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THE HISTORY 


AND 

CIVIL GOVERNMENT 


The State of Nebraska. 


Designed for the Use of the Schools of the State. 


REVISED EDITION 



By M. B. C. TRUE, 

/# 

Author of “ Our Republic.” 


Fremont, Neb : 
DANIKb V. STEPHENS. 
1892. 



JUL 21 1892 
X 


o 







Copyright 1892 , 
By M. B. C. True. 


PRESS OF FREMONT TRIBUNE. 




PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION, 


There is little need for any remarks concerning the 
demand for a text-book upon the civil government of the 
state, in addition to the words of the state superintendent 
in the introduction. The basis upon which a study of 
that branch is demanded is forcibly and sententiously 
stated there. 

I have prefaced the volume with a short historical 
sketch of the state, which, I trust, will be found to be 
sufficiently complete for this place. Much has been 
written about the historical events of the territory and 
state, but none of it is in such form as to be accessible to 
the general reader. A knowledge of these events is 
important, as a good in itself, and as a means of properly 
apprehending that system of government which grew out 
of, and is the fruit of, those events. Hence, no scholar, 
certainly no teacher, can afford to be ignorant of the 
prominent and governing facts in the history of his own 
state. For these reasons, I hope that the historic sketch 
will be found to be indispensable in these pages. 

The bill of rights lays down some general principles, 
stating the inherent rights and privileges of the citizen. 
These rights constitute the foundation of a free 
government. As much of the language used in the 
bill of rights is in the technical terms of the law books, 
I have appended explanatory remarks in the hope of 
making the meaning plainer. 

The author believes that the plan of the work will com¬ 
mend itself to the trained judgment of the experienced 
teacher. It is a treatment of the details of local govern- 



IV 


PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. 


ing agencies in advance of the more general ones; the 
study of the concrete before taking up the abstract, so 
far as yopthful apprehension and experience are con¬ 
cerned.* 

Just what matters, and how much of them, are needed 
in this volume after the skeleton of the government is 
given in Divisions I. and II., must be a matter of taste and 
judgment, concerning which there is probably no unani¬ 
mity among teachers. That too much has not been in¬ 
cluded, will, I trust, be demonstrated in the school-room; 
that more might have been advantageously included I am 
ready to concede. 

As the book is intended for a place in the district 
schools, as well as in the graded schools, it has been con¬ 
sidered important that the volume should not be too 
bulky, nor too expensive, nor contain more than pupils 
can go over easily in one term. 

The questions are not intended to be exhaustive. The 
intelligent teacher can easily add such others as may be 
needed to secure a full understanding of the text. 

No writer who does honest work can fail to see some 
of the imperfections of the results. That the earnest, 
conscientious teacher will find some important facts 
omitted herefrom, can hardly be doubted, but the author 
believes that there is enough in these pages to render the 
volume of some value in the educational system of the 
state. 

Crete, March 20, 1885. 


PREFACE TO REVISED EDITION. 


The three regular sessions of the legislature of the state, 
which have been held since the first edition of this text¬ 
book was issued, made many important changes in the 
laws and organization of the state government. These 
changes have caused a call for a revision of that part of 
the book treating the civil government of the state. In 
the revision, the matter that has become useless has been 
cut out, and the new laws and new parts of the state ma¬ 
chinery have been put into their appropriate places. Thus, 
this text-book is substantially a new work, showing the 
state government as it exists at this date. More than 
three fourths of the text have been entirely re-written in 
the hope that clearness of statement and of style may be 
added. Many pages not entirely re-written have been 
amended in many particulars. 

Circumstances have seemed to compel another important 
change in the text. The first edition was written with a 
partial intent to furnish to the voters who had limited op¬ 
portunities for studying the frame-work of the state 
government, some means for such study. To that end, 
there were placed in the latter part of the volume many 
pages relating to laws, to the rights of citizens, and to 
many details of government not necessary to the pupils, 
but extremely valuable to the parents of the pupils. Most 
of Division IV., entitled “Miscellaneous Laws,” was of 
the character indicated. The new law of the state under 
which the districts own the text-books, keeps the text¬ 
books out of the hands of the parents, and thus renders 
Division IV., practically useless. Inconsequence thereof, 



VI 


PREFACE TO REVISED EDITION. 


nearly all of Division IV. has been omitted, a few pages 
only having been transferred to Division III. in this edition. 

In deference to the advice of many friends more closely 
cognizant of the needs of the schools than the author, he 
has retained the questions as in the first edition. In the 
questions, he has made frequent attempts to call out some 
expression of thought and judgment from the pupil. It 
is hoped that the teacher will supplement the printed 
questions by others designed to test the pupil’s understand¬ 
ing of the lesson. “Why” is a very valuable question, 
and is seldom out of place. 

The author trusts that he may be pardoned for suggest¬ 
ing to teachers that frequent reference to the constitution 
of the state will add to the value of the ordinary lesson. 
The pupils should be encouraged, or, better, required to 
find a constitutional warrant for every portion of the text 
studied. The constitution of a state or nation is not so 
very dull a piece of composition, if properly studied, as 
it is usually considered to be. A great deal of original 
work can be done by pupils, especially in the earlier 
chapters. This kind of work will add interest to the 
study of the subject. 

The revision and enlargement of the historic sketch of 
the state have been done under such a pressure of time 
and of other imperative duties that the author asks the 
generous indulgence of the teacher who uses the sketch as 
a basis for information or of instruction. No attempt 
has been made to present an exhaustive history 
of the state. Some effort has been made looking to 
finding a mean between too great prolixity and too 
much condensation. The author has considered that the 
earlier period of the history of the state, that period a 
little indistinct by data not quite definite, a little hazy by 


PREFACE TO REVISED EDITION. vii 

lapse of time and absence of records, would be most 
desired, most valuable to pupils. He has therefore, tried 
to set forth a larger proportion of accessible facts of that 
period than of later periods. 

All students of history finds authorities often so con¬ 
flicting as to render it difficult, if not impossible, to de¬ 
termine the facts. In this sketch the author has tried to 
find the most credible data, and has followed such author¬ 
ities as seemed to him the most reliable. In a sketch of 
this character, for use in schools, it has not been deemed 
best to encumber the pages with notes of authorities. 

The author has reason to hope that educators of the 
state will find the present edition of Nebraska Civics 
as worthy as they found the first edition. 

Tecumseh, Neb., July 1 , 1892. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


DIVISION I. 

PAG E 

GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. 

# 

Classification and Diagram,. 1 

CHAPTER, I.—Municipal Corporations,. 2 

Self Government by our Ancestors, 2. What fits Men for Self-Govern¬ 
ment, 2. Reasons for Local Government, 3. Early Municipal Corpora¬ 
tions, 3. The Village, 4. The City of the Second Class, 6. The City 
of the First Ciass, 8. The Metropolitan City, 9. 

CHAPTER II.—School Districts,. 10 

The Country District, to. The High School District, 11. The City 
District, 11. 

CHAPTER III.—Precincts and Townships,. 12 

The Precinct, 12. The Township, 12 . Town Meetings, 13. 

CHAPTER IV.—Counties. 14 

Size, 14. Officers, 14. 

CHAPTER V—Other Districts. 17 

Judicial Districts, 17. Congressional Districts, 19. 

CHAPTER, VI.—Corporate Powers,. 19 

What Districts have not Corporate Powers, 19. What ones have, 20. 

What is a corporation, 20. 

DIVISION II. 

THE STATE. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER I.—Division of Powers. 21 

Why Powers are Divided, 21. The Legislative Department, 21. The Ad¬ 
ministrative, 22. The Judicial, 23. 

CHAPTER II.—The Legislative Department. 24 

Its Parts, 24. Composition of the Senate, 24. Of the House, 24. Qualifi¬ 
cations of Members, 24. Privileges of Members, 25. Sessions, 25. Or¬ 
ganization, 25. Quorum, 25. Rights of each House, 26. Expulsion of 
Members, 26. Powers of Piotection, 26. Journal, 26. How Members 
Vote, 26. Officers, 27. Rules, 27. Committees,27. Bills, 28. Enacting 
Clause, 28. Title, 28. Method of Legislation, 29. Committee of the 
Whole, 30. Action of the House, 31. After Engrossment, 31. Action 
of the other House, 32. The Final Stage, 32. When Laws lake effect, 33. 
Publication, 34. Electing U. S. Senator, 34. Adjournment. 34. Prohi¬ 
bitions of Power, 34. Local Laws, 35. Others, 35. Constitutional Com¬ 
mands, 36. Census, 36. Appropriations, 37. Vacancies, 37. Free 











TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


IX 


Schools, 37. School Funds, 37. Equal Taxation, 37. Funding State 
Debt, 37. Auditing Claims, 38. Local Officers, 38. Railroads, 38. Militia, 

38. Suits against the State, 38. Constitutional Grants, 38. Judicial 
Districts, 39. Votes of Militia, 39. Reformatories. 39. Cities and Vil¬ 
lages, 39. Railroad Charges, 39. 

CHARTER III.—Executive Departmei t. 40 

Some Qualifications, 41. The Governor, 41. Makes Appointments, 41. 
Message, 42. Reports, 42. Pardons, 42. Military Rank, 42. The Lieu¬ 
tenant-Governor, 43. The Secretary of State, 43. The Auditor, 43. The 
Treasurer, 44. The Attorney-General, 44. Commissioner and Board of 
Public Lands and Buildings, 44. Board of School Lands and Funds, 45. 
Board of Public Printing, 45. Board of Transportation, 45. State Board 
of Health, 46. Bureau of Labor and Industry, 46. 

CHAPTER IV.—Judicial Department. 47 

Powers of Courts, 48. The Police Court, 48. Justice’s Court, 48. The 
County Court, 49. Jurisdiction of Courts, 49. The District Court, 51. 

The Supreme Court, 52. Mandamus, 53. Quo Warranto, 53. Habeas 
Corpus, 53. Court of Impeachment, 54. What Courts are for, 54. 

DIVISION III. 

ADMINISTRATION. 

CHAPTER I.—Rights of Suffrage,. 56 

Who are Voters, 56. Who are not Voters, 57. What is residence, 59. 

The Militia, 60. Registration, 60. Protection to Voters, 60. Illegal 
Voting, 61. Bribery, 61. Challenge, 62. 

CHAPTER II.—Elections. 62 

Opening the Polls, 62. The Ballot Box, 63. Manner of Voting, 63. 
Challenge, 64. Closing the Polls, 64. The Canvass, 64. Sealing the 
Ballots, 65. Contests, 66. 

CHAPTER III—Revenue,. 67 

For vvliat Purpose, 67. From whom Raised, 67. What Property Ex¬ 
empt, 67. The Assessment, 68. Review, 69. The Levy, 70. The Tax 
List, 71. How Taxes are Collected, 71. "When Delinquent, 72. Tax 
Deed, 72. Peddlers, 73. Taxes in Cities, 73. How Money Paid Out, 73. 

CHAPTER IV.—Education. 74 

The Reason, 74. School Districts, 75. Who are Voters, 75. School 
Meetings, 75. Duties of Officers, 76. Teachers, 76. Teacher’s Certifi¬ 
cates, 76. County Superintendent, 78. State Superintendent, 78. 
Institutes, 79. Compulsory Attendance, 79. Children in Workshops, 

80. Free Text Books, 80. School Funds, 80. State University, 82. 

State Normal School, 84, Private Colleges and Other Schools, 84. 

CHAPTER V.—Public Institutions. 87 

Their Purpose, 87. Insane, 87. Blind, 88. Deaf and Dumb, 89. 
Friendless, 89. Boys’ Industrial School, 89. Girls’ School, 90. Peni¬ 
tentiary, 90. Feeble Minded Youth, 91. Industrial Home, 92. Sol¬ 
diers’ Home, 92. 









X 


TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER VI.—Miscellaneous Matters. 93 

State Historical Society, 93. Sta'e Agricultural Society, 94. State Hor¬ 
ticultural Society, 94. County Agricultural Societies, 95. Public Li¬ 
braries, 96. Loads, 98. State Militia, 99. Vacancies in Office, 102. 
Official Oatlis, 103. Official Bonds, 103. 


Constitution of Neb. aska. 105 

History of Nebraska. 138 

CHAPTER I.—Explanations. 138 


By Coronado, 138. By Onate, 140. By Missionaries, 140. By Penalosa, 

141. By the Mallet Brothers, 144. Father Marquette’s Map, 145. Visit 
by Lewis and Clarke, 146. By Captain Hunt, 146. By Major Long, 147. 

By Captain Booneville, 147. By Colonel Dodge, 147. By Fremont, 148. 

CHAPTER II.—The Indians,. 148 

The Omalias, 148. The Pawnees, 149. The Otoes, 150. The Winue- 
bagoes, 151. The Santees, 151. The Poncas, 151. The Iowas, 152. 

The Sacks and Foxes, 152. 

CHAPTER III.—Anti-Territorial Days. 152 

Political Changes, 153. First Settlem nts, in Sarpy County, 153. Fort 
Calhoun, 154. Indian Battle, 154. Missionaries, 155. First 4th of 
July Celebration, 156. Fort Kearney, 157, School at Bellevue, 158. 
Mormon Invasion, 158. Omaha, 158. Immigrants to California, 159. 
Rawhide Creek, 159. Gold and Coal in Nebraska, 160. Bellevue, 160. 

Ferry at Omaha, 160. Settlements in 1853, 161. Mrs. McMurpliy’s 
Diary, 161. Election at Bellevue, 162. Convention at St. Joseph, 163. 
Treaty with the Indians, 164. Settlements in 1S54,164. Nebraska be¬ 
comes a Territory, 164. 

CHAPTER IV.—Territorial Day. 1 G 5 

First Officers, 165. Death of Governor Burt, 166. First Census, 

165. First Election, 166. Club La\\, 167. Brownville, 167. Richardson 
County, 168. Fontenelle, 168. Nebraska City, 169. Bellevue, 169. The 
“Underground Railroad,” 170. Indian Affairs at Fontenelle, 170. Big 
Powder Expedition, 171. Battle near Ash Hollow, 171. Settlements in 
Cuming, Saunders and Knox Counties, 172. In Platte County, 173. In¬ 
dians and other settlers at Fremont, 173. Johnson, Cuming and Gage 
Counties, 174. Congregational Association Formed, 175. Indians At¬ 
tacked at Eight Mile Grove, 175. Gold at Denver, 17:. Settlements in 
Seward and Saline Counties, 176. “AV ild Cat” Banking, 176. The Paw¬ 
nee AVar, 177. The Slavery Question, 179. Slaves in the Territory, 181 . 

The First Nebraska Cavalry, 182. The Curtis Horse, 183. The Seco d 
Cavalry, 184. Battle of AATite Stone Hills, 184. Southern Refugees, 186. 
Indian Troubles on the Frontier, 186. Indian Raid upon the Little 
Blue, 187. Legislative Actiou, 187. First Homestead, 188. Census of 
1855, 188. Territorial Governors, 188. 

CHAPTER A r .—'The State of Nebraska. ^ 

Early Attempts to Form a State, 190. Enabling Act Passed, 191 . Con- 










TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


IX 


stiiution Formed, 191. State Officers Elected, 191. First Legislature, 
192. Congressional Action, 192. Nebraska Admitted, 193. Re-location 
of the Capital, 193. Governor Butler’s Impeachment, 194. New Con¬ 
stitution Demanded, 195. “The Great Sioux War of 1890-1,” 195. 
Governors of Nebraska, 197. U. S. Senators from Nebraska, 197. 
Members of the House, 197. Population of the State, 198. 







BOUNDARIES. 


Nebraska is bounded on the east by the states Iowa and 
Missouri; on the south by the states Kansas and Colorado; 
on the west by the states Colorado and Wyoming; and 
on the north by the state South Dakota. 

The more specific lines bounding the state are as fol¬ 
lows: Beginning on the 40th degree of north latitude 
in the center of the channel of the Missouri river, thence 
along the center of that channel till it reaches the point 
of its intersection with the 43d degree of latitude; thence 
due west to the 27th degree of longitude; thence due south 
to the 41st degree of latitude; thence due east to the 25th 
degree of longitude; thence due south to the 40th degree 
of latitude; thence due east to the place of beginning in 
the center of the channel of the Missouri river. 



DIVISION I. 


GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. 

The state is divided into smaller bodies for purposes of 
government. Beginning with the smallest subdivision, 
they are as follows: 

1. Villages. 

2. Cities. 

3. School Districts. 

4. Precincts. 

5. Townships. 

6. Counties. 

7. Judicial Districts. 

8. The state is also divided into six congressional 
districts, for purpose of representation in the lower house 
of Congress; but this division has no effect upon the state 
government. 

Each of the above named seven subdivisions has special 
officers whose duties and authority fall within that sub¬ 
division. We will take up the subdivisions of the state, 
as indicated above, in the order named. 

DIAGRAM OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. 

f Villages. 

| Cities. 

Counties. \ School Districts. 

The State. •( | Precincts. 

[ Townships. 

| Judicial Districts, 
i Congressional Districts. 




2 


GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. 


CHAPTER I.—MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS. 

The American people have inherited a desire for self- 
government. Their ancestors of the Anglo-Saxon race 
have exercised self-government for so many centuries, 
that we have come to regard this as a right which cannot 
be taken away from us without our consent. The Decla¬ 
ration of Independence asserts this right for the collect¬ 
ive people of a nation, and the assertions of that Decla¬ 
ration are being more and more accepted by the people of 
other nations. But the early Angles and Saxons, and 
their cousins of the great Teutonic race, exercised 
this right of self-government in their smaller tribes and 
communities. Each community and each tribe chose its 
own rulers in peace and its own leaders in war, and, in a 
crude way, regulated the actions and the rights and priv¬ 
ileges of individuals. Of course, there was no Teutonic 
nation, nor Saxon nation, as we understand the word 
‘ 4 nation,”' today, but the various tribes and communities 
acted together for the common interests of all. On this 
account, there is not the same reason for local self- 
government now that there was then. But the habits and 
customs and the traditions of a people are strong, and 
we cling closely to the usages and habits of our Anglo- 
Saxon ancestors. Besides, people in the United States 
are growing in their fitness for self-government. Intelli¬ 
gence and moral forces are increasing among us; these are 
at the basis of fitness for self-government. 

In all governments, there is need for some rules gov¬ 
erning conduct that ought to be the same in all parts of 
the government. There are other rules w T hich are needed 
in some places and under some conditions, which are not 
needed in other places and under other conditions. We 
can easily see that there are some rules that ought 


GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. 


3 


to apply to all schools. We can also see that in a 
school having a thousand pupils and twenty-five 
teachers, there must be some rules which are not 
needed in schools having but one teacher and about 
thirty pupils. In the same view, we can see that rules 
are needed for one hundred thousand people living to¬ 
gether in a small space, different from those needed in 
farming communities. 

Inasmuch as the forms of government, and methods of 
doing business, with which we are familiar, seem better to 
us than do those with which we are not familiar, it is 
thought best to permit each community needing some of 
these special rules to make them for themselves. But, as 
all the people of the state are interested in the welfare of 
those of each community, the state always makes some 
restrictions upon the power of these several communities, 
so that the rights of all may be preserved. In this 
state the same restrictions are imposed upon one com¬ 
munity as upon another of the same size. 

Again, the people of each community are better 
acquainted with their own citizens than the people of 
other portions of the state can possibly be. The people 
of each community are, thus, better able to make proper 
selection of officers for carrying out the rules specially 
needed by that community. As people are governed 
through officers appointed for that purpose, the right of 
self-government includes the right to elect the officers of 
the government. 

These communities, which I have been describing, and 
which need rules which others do not need, are often called 
corporations. In earlier times, when war seemed to be 
the principal business of a large class of the people, each 
community was, in a measure, at war with every other 


4 


GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. 


community. And so, these communities were accustomed 
to surround themselves by walls for defense. On this 
account, they were called “municipal corporations.” Be¬ 
fore the pupils have completed their Latin course, they 
will have learned that this word, municipal , is formed by 
the, union of two Latin words, mnnio and capio\ the 
rather free translation being, received into walls, protect¬ 
ed by walls. Such cities claimed, and were strong enough 
to obtain, special privileges, among which were many 
privileges of self-government. Some of them had so many 
privileges that they were called free cities. In America, 
while these communities exercise the right of self-govern¬ 
ment in respect to matters in which the people of other 
communities can have but little interest, the individuals 
of those communities yet are subject to the same general 
laws that control other citizens of the state. 

In this state, these corporations are divided into four 
classes, and are graded according to the population of 
each; these are villages, cities of the second class, cities 
of the first class, and metropolitan cities. 

A Village. The smallest of these corporations, can 
be formed whenever there are two hundred people living 
near together who so desire. The village has fixed 
boundary lines and must include all the people and all the 
land inside of those boundary lines. 

The Officers of a village are: five trustees, called 
“board of trustees,” a clerk, a treasurer, an attorney, an 
overseer of the streets, and a marshal. All these officers 
must be voters within the village, and the members of the 
board of trustees must also be tax-payers of the village and 
must have resided within the village three months before 
their election. The voters of the village elect the members 


GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. 


5 

of the board, yearly, and the board appoints the other 
officers, yearly. 

Tiie Board of Trustees meet at such regular times as 
they may set, and one of its members is elected its chair¬ 
man. This board has power to make all the rules needed 
within the village. 

The rules which the trustees of villages and the councils 
of cities make for the government of the people, are called 
“by-laws,” and “ordinances.” The board of trustees of 
villages have power to pass by-laws and ordinances to pre¬ 
vent and remove nuisances; to prevent, restrain, and sup¬ 
press gambling houses and other disorderly houses; to 
restrain and prohibit gambling; to license and regulate 
theatrical and other amusements; to establish night 
watches; to provide pest houses; to prevent the introduc¬ 
tion and spread of contagious diseases; to establish and 
regulate markets; to erect and repair bridges; to erect, 
repair and regulate wharves, and the rate of wharfage; to 
regulate the landing of steamboats, rafts, and other water¬ 
craft; to provide for the inspection of lumber, building 
materials, and provisions; to require and regulate the 
planting and protection of shade trees in the streets, and 
the erection of stairways, railways, doorways, awnings, 
hitching posts and rails, lamp posts, awning posts and all 
other structures and excavations near the sidewalks and 
streets; to levy taxes for revenue; to provide for grading, 
paving and repairing streets, avenues, alleys and the con¬ 
struction and repair of bridges, culverts, sewers and side¬ 
walks; to levy a license tax upon occupations; to tax dogs; 
to authorize gas works and water works; to establish and 
change the channels of water courses; to provide apparatus 
for extinguishing fires; to limit the erection of wooden 
buildings; to regulate_levees, depots, depot grounds, the 


6 


GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. 


passage of railways through the streets, and railway 
crossings; to establish and regulate standard weights and 
measures; to provide for the inspection and weighing of 
hay, grain, coal and fuel. 

The clerk of the village keeps a record of the actions of 
the board of trustees, draws and signs orders for the pay¬ 
ment of the money of the village, and performs such other 
duties as the board may require. The treasurer receives 
the money of the village and pays it out on the order of 
the board of trustees. The attorney is the law r yer for the 
village. The overseer of streets has charge of grading and 
repairing streets and sidewalks. The marshal acts as a 
sheriff for preserving order, and for enforcing the rules of 
the village. 

Cities of the Second Class. Whenever a village has 
fifteen hundred inhabitants or more, and has less than ten 
thousand, it may be organized into a city of the second 
class. The officers of cities of this class are: a mayor, a 
clerk, a treasurer, a city engineer, a police judge, an over¬ 
seer of streets, an attorney, and a city council. 

The mayor presides at all meetings of the city council, 
has a superintending control of the officers and affairs of 
the city, may veto any ordinance passed by the council, 
and is required to take care that the ordinances of the city 
are enforced. The clerk, treasurer, and attorney perform 
about the same duties as do officers of the same names in 
villages. The city engineer makes all surveys, estimates 
and calculations concerning the cost of improving the 
streets, building and repairing bridges and public build¬ 
ings and for establishing grades, and performs such other 
like work as the city may require. The overseer of streets 
has charge of opening, grading, and repairing streets, side¬ 
walks, culverts, bridges, etc., in the city. The voters of 


GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. 


7 


the city elect the mayor, clerk, treasurer, engineer, 
yearly, and the police judge every two years. The mayor 
and council appoint the attorney and overseer of streets, 
yearly. 

The council is made up of two persons elected from 
each ward into which the city may be divided; each person 
is elected for a term of two years, and the two persons 
from each ward are elected in separate years. There can 
not be less than two wards, nor more than six. The powers 
of the council are somewhat broader than are those of 
trustees of villages. 

The city council is authorized to control billiard tables, 
liquor shops, nuisances, domestic cattle running at large, 
the use of fire-arms, gun powder, weights and measures 
within the city; racing, railroad crossings, depots, levees, 
w T ater courses, streets, alleys, culverts, bridges, fires and 
chimneys; the council may establish and support hospitals, 
night watch, market houses, sidewalks, water works, gas 
works, cemeteries, fire limits, fire engines and other ap¬ 
paratus for extinguishing fires; may open, widen, aban¬ 
don and repair streets and alleys; may light the streets and 
license saloons, and provide for the inspection and weight 
of grain, coal, <fcc. In cities that own and maintain 
water works, the mayor and council annually appoint a 
water commissioner. 

Any ordinance which the mayor may veto, may be 
passed over the veto by a vote of two thirds of the mem¬ 
bers elected to the council. 

Cities of this class are divided into two grades; those 
having a population less than five thousand, and those 
having a population more than five thousand. There is 
some difference in the powers of the two grades of cities, 


8 


GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. 


the most populous cities having the most power, but the 
difference is not very much. 

Cities of the First Class. Cities having a popula¬ 
tion over ten thousand and less than eighty thousand, are 
cities of the first class, and are divided into not less than 
six wards. In these cities the voters bi-ennially elect a 
mayor, a clerk, a water commissioner, a city attorney, a 
city engineer and a police judge, and a council formed by 
two members from each ward. The mayor and council 
appoint a street commissioner, a chief of the fire depart¬ 
ment, a board of public works with three members, a gas 
inspector, an inspector of meats and live stock, and a 
sealer of weights and measures. The mayor, and two 
other voters of the city elected bi-ennially, constitute the 
“excise and police board,” which, appoints the chief of 
police and other police officers. The duties of these 
officers are similar to the duties of officers of the same 
titles in cities of the second class. 

The powers of the city council are more broad and ex¬ 
tensive than those of councils in cities of the second class, 
and they embrace more subjects. As sewerage, water 
works, gas works, street railways, public buildings, hos¬ 
pitals, police forces will necessarily be more expensive in 
large cities than in smaller ones, with enlarged opportuni¬ 
ties for frauds, and increased liabilities to mismanage¬ 
ment, the authority granted to cities of the first class is 
correspondingly more minute, so that the public interests 
may be more carefully guarded. 

Cities of this class are divided into two grades: those 
whose inhabitants do not exceed twenty-five thousand, and 
those whose inhabitants are between twenty-five thousand 
and eighty thousand. The powers given to each grade of 
cities of the first class differ somewhat in extent. 


GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. 


9 


Metropolitan Cities. Cities having a population of 
eighty thousand or more are called metropolitan cities. 
In every other year the voters elect a mayor, a city clerk, 
a police judge, a treasurer, a comptroller. The council 
is constituted by one councilman from each ward and as 
many councilmen-at-large as the number of wards, and the 
councilmen are elected for two years. The mayor and 
council appoint a board of public works of three mem¬ 
bers, a city engineer, a street commissioner, an inspector 
of buildings, a city attorney, an assistant city attorney, a 
city prosecutor, a boiler inspector and a commissioner of 
health. The mayor, and four electors of the city ap¬ 
pointed by the governor of the state, constitute the 
“board of police and fire commissioners,” and this board 
appoints the officers of the police force and of the fire de¬ 
partment; a “board of health” is composed of the mayor, 
commissioner of health, the sanitary commissioners of the 
district in which the city is located, the chief of police 
and two members of the city council. The general duties 
of the officers of cities of the metropolitan class are of the 
same character as the duties of similar officers in smaller 
cities—but their authority and powers are much broader 
and larger than are those in smaller cities. 


QUESTIONS. 

What are the purposes for which municipal corporations are 
organized ? Give the historic reasons for their organization. 
What is a municipal corporation V When may a village be formed ? 
Name the officers of a village and their duties. What are the 
powers of a village board ? Name the various grades of cities aud 
their distinctions. Name the officers common to all the cities and 
their, duties. Why is the highest grade city called a metropoli¬ 
tan city ? What is one great fault in city government ? 



IO 


GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS 


CHAPTER II.—SCHOOL DISTRICTS. 

Each county is divided into as many school districts as 
the people may demand and the county superintendent 
may approve. The superintendent is obliged to form 
new districts and to change old ones on the petition of 
two thirds of the voters of the districts affected. The law 
forbids the formation of a district extending a distance of 
more than six miles in one direction upon section lines, or 
one that does not contain four sections of land, unless it 
contains property assessed at not less than twelve thousand 
dollars; but, if the district so lies along streams of water 
courses as to make it impracticable for it to contain four 
sections of land, it may be formed without regard to the 
amount of land or valuation of property. The name or 
title by which a school district acts is: “School District 
No.-, of-County, State of Nebraska.” 

Grades. There are three grades, or kinds, of school dis¬ 
tricts in this state; the ordinary district of the country, the 
high school district, and the city school district. The affairs 
of the ordinary school district are managed by the annual 
district meeting and by the school board. This board 
consists of three members; a moderator, a treasurer, and a 
director. The moderator presides at all meetings of the 
district and of the board, and signs the orders for the pay¬ 
ment of the district money. The treasurer receives the 
money of the district, and pays it out, as directed by law, 
on the order of the board signed by the moderator and 
the director. The director is the clerk of the district and 
of the board; he draws and signs the orders for the pay¬ 
ment of the district money; takes a census of school 
children of the district once a year; has the care and con¬ 
trol of the school property, and attends generally to such 
other business as the district meeting or the board may 




GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. 


II 

direct. At the annual school meeting of the district, the 
voters may make such orders concerning the affairs and 
property of the district as they may deem best and the 
board is obliged to obey such orders. 

High School District. Whenever any district con¬ 
tains more than one hundred and fifty children of school 
age, that district may organize into a high school district, 
and will be governed by six trustees, called a “board of 
trustees.” This board classifies and grades the scholars 
of the district; and, upon a vote of the district, may 
establish a high school, prescribe courses of study, and 
make rules for the government of the schools. Otherwise 
this district is governed in much the same manner and 
form as the ordinary school district. 

City District. Each incorporated city is a school 
district by itself. In many cities of the second class the 
district includes territory outside of the city limits. In 
the city districts, the governing board is called the 
“board of education,” and the district is named, “The 

School District of -, in the county of-, in the 

State of Nebraska.” The board elects its own president 
and secretary. The people of the district have no direct 
voice in its government beyond the election of the mem¬ 
bers of the board of education, and a vote upon the issu¬ 
ance of bonds, and upon such other matters as the board 
may submit to a vote. These districts have graded 
schools in all departments. The schools are under the 
immediate care of a superintendent, elected by the board; 
and the different departments have such teachers as are 
needed. In metropolitan cities, the board of education 
consists of fifteen members; in cities of the first class, of 
nine; and in other cities, of six members. The city treas¬ 
urer is the treasurer of the school district. 



12 


GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. 


QUESTIONS. 

What constitutes the smallest school district ? What may a 
school district do ? State the several grades of school districts and 
their differences. How is the ordinary school district governed— 
the high school district—the city school district ? . What is the 
advantage of the school district meeting ? 

CHAPTER III.—PRECINCTS AND TOWNSHIPS. 

A Precinct is the name given to a tract of country, a 
sub-division of a county, all of whose voters can conve¬ 
niently vote at one voting place. Excepting along the 
large rivers, the precinct is usually six miles square, equal 
to a congressional township. The county board deter¬ 
mines the name and size of the precinct. It is a simple 
territorial sub-division, and does not possess any attribute 
of a corporation. The officers of a precinct are: three 
judges of election, two clerks of election, one assessor, 
two justices of the peace and two constables. For the 
duties of these officers, see chapters on Elections, Judicial 
Department, Revenue. 

A Township. A law of the state allows counties to 
adopt township organization. For this purpose a petition, 
signed by not less than fifty voters of the county, must 
be presented to the county board, and the board is there¬ 
upon required to call an election of the voters of the 
county for the adoption or rejection of the system. It 
requires a majority of ail who vote at that election to 
adopt it. Township organization may be abolished by 
the same method, when the people desire to return to the 
precinct system. The petition for the return must be 
signed by one third of the voters of the county as shown 
by the returns of the last election. 

In counties having township organization, the board of 


GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISION'S. 


13 


county supervisors divides the county into townships of 
convenient size, which is usually the same as that of pre¬ 
cincts. No village or city, incorporated and with a pop¬ 
ulation over one thousand, can be included in a township. 

The officers of a township are: three judges of elec¬ 
tion, two clerks of election, one assessor, two justices of 
the peace, two constables, one supervisor, one clerk, one 
treasurer, and overseers of highways. The clerk keeps 
the town records, and does the clerical work for the town 
and for the town board. The supervisor represents the 
township in the county board. The supervisor, clerk, and 
the two justices of the peace constitute the “town board.” 
This board examines the accounts of the supervisor, over¬ 
seers of highways, and of the other township officers, and 
audits and adjusts all claims against the township for ser¬ 
vices, labor, or supplies furnished under contract. The 
duties of the other officers are nearly the same as those of 
precinct officers. 

Town Meetings. The voters of the township hold a 
town meeting on the first Tuesday in April of each year. 
At that meeting the assembled voters take such action as 
they may wish in regard to the property of the township, 
determine the amount of taxes to be levied for township 
purposes; may give orders in regard to constructing 
wells, planting trees along the highway, preventing 
nuisances, repairing roads and bridges, and for support¬ 
ing the poor in counties in which there is neither poor- 
house nor poor-farm, and make rules in regard to cattle 
and other domestic animals running at large, and may 
provide pounds for such animals as may be found running 
at large illegally. 


14 


GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. 


QUESTIONS. 

State the difference between a precinct and a township. What 
officers has a precinct? A township? How may counties adopt 
township organization ? How abolish it ? What advantage has a 
township organization over the precinct organization ? Where did 
township organization originate? 


CHAPTER I V. —COUNTIES. 

The county is the largest portion of a state set apart for 
local government and its corporate name is, “The County 

of-in the State of Nebraska.” The counties 

are not uniform in size nor in form, but they will average 
about sixteen townships, or twenty-four miles square. 
The counties newly formed in the western portion of the 
state, where the population is not dense, are much larger; 
some of them are four times as large as the average size. 
The evident intention has been to have the counties con¬ 
tain so much property that taxation for county purposes 
shall not be burdensome. 

Officers. The officers of a county are: clerk, treasurer, 
judge,clerk of the district court,superintendent of public in¬ 
struction, sheriff, register of deeds, attorney, coroner, and 
a county board. In counties under township organization, 
this board is composed of a supervisor from each town¬ 
ship, and a supervisor from each village or city containing 
one thousand inhabitants, and one supervisor for each ad¬ 
ditional two thousand inhabitants in such village or city. 
The supervisors are elected every year, and the board is 
called the “board of county supervisors.” In counties 
not under township organization, this board is called the 
“board of county commissioners.” In counties having 
a population less than seventy-five thousand, three members 
constitute the board; each is elected from a separate dis- 




GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. 


!5 


trict for three years. In counties having a population 
more than seventy-five thousand, five members constitute 
the board; each is elected from a separate district for a 
term of three years. The clerk of the district court, and 
the register of deeds are each elected for a term of four 
years; each of the other county officers is elected for a 
term of two years. 

The board of county commissioners, and the board of 
county supervisors have duties and powers nearly identical. 
This is the governing body of the county, and looks after 
the interests of the county, very much as the city council 
does after the interests of the city. 

The County Board has the care and control of all the 
county property, not pertaining to the duties of any special 
officer, manages the county funds, opens or vacates 
roads, settles with county officers who handle any county 
funds, vacates plats of village and city, and changes 
the name of any village or city, provides books, stationery 
and other appliances for the use of the county officers, 
builds court houses, jails, poor houses, bridges and other 
necessary county buildings. In counties not under town¬ 
ship organization, the county board settles the accounts of 
the overseer of highways. 

The County Clerk is the clerk of the county 
board. He keeps all official bonds of county 
officers, except his own; keeps a record of all claims 
against the county, and performs such other services as 
may be required by the county board. In counties bav¬ 
in" a population less than eighteen thousand and three, 
lie is the register of deeds. 

Treasurer. In counties under township organiza¬ 
tion the treasurer receives and keeps the public money 
collected by the township collectors, and pays it out 


16 


GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. 


on orders signed by the county clerk and chairman of the 
county board. In counties not under township organiza¬ 
tion, he collects the taxes directly from the tax-payers, and 
pays out the public money on orders as above descrijbed. 

The Sheriff is the executive officer of the district 
court and of the county court. 

The Judge of the county court has jurisdiction between 
that of a justice of the peace and that of the district court. 

Register. In counties having a population exceed¬ 
ing eighteen thousand and three, a register of deeds is 
elected who has the care and custody of the books, maps, 
records and papers, kept in his office, and he files or 
records all deeds, mortgages, and other written instru¬ 
ments which the law requires to be recorded or filed. 
In counties having a population less than eighteen thous¬ 
and and three, the county clerk is the register of deeds. 

The Clerk of the District Court keeps the records 
of the court and has charge of all the books and papers 
connected with the business before the court. 

The Attorney is the law adviser of the county and of 
its officers; he appears for the county and state in all suits 
in his county in which either has any interest, and he 
prosecutes all criminal actions in the county, either before 
justices of the peace, in the county court, or in the district 
court. 

The Coroner holds inquests upon the bodies of such 
persons as are supposed, or suspected, to have died by un¬ 
lawful means. For this purpose, he issues an order to the 
sheriff to call six free-holders of the county as a jury. lie 
and the jury then hear the testimony concerning the cause 
of the death, and the jury makes such a report as the tes¬ 
timony may justify. In the absence of the sheriff from 
the county, or when there is no sheriff, or when the sheriff 


GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. 


17 


is a party in the action or is otherwise interested in it, the 
coroner acts in ihe place of the sheriff. The sheriff acts 
in place of the coroner in the absence of that officer. 

The Surveyor makes surveys of lands in the county 
whenever he is required to do so, and establishes boun¬ 
daries and corners. He must make a record of all his 
official acts. He keeps in his office a copy of the field- 
notes of the original survey of all lands in the county. 

The Superintendent of Public Instruction has a 
general supervision of the schools of the county. He vis¬ 
its them as often as is practicable, and he helps the 
teachers in their duties. He examines the qualifications 
to teach of those who desire him to do so, and he gives 
to them certificates graded according to their qualifications. 


QUESTIONS. 

What is said about the size of counties? What officers have 
counties ? What are their terms of office ? What are the powers 
and duties of the county board? Name the general duties of the 
several county officers; the clerk, the treasurer, the sheriff, the 
coroner, the register of deeds, the attorney, the surveyor, the su¬ 
perintendent of public instruction, the judge, the clerk of the dis¬ 
trict court. Why should the state be divided into counties ? 


CHAPTER Y.—OTHER DISTRICTS. 

JUDICIAL DISTRICTS. 

For the better administration of justice, the state is di¬ 
vided into fifteen judicial districts. In each district the 
voters elect a judge who serves a term of four years. In 
the first, fifth, sixth, eleventh, and fifteenth districts, 
there are two judges in each; in the third district, three; 
in the fourth, seven; all the other districts have one judge 




i8 


GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. 


each. The counties constituting the several judicial dis¬ 
tricts, are as follows: 

First District. Gage, Jefferson, Johnson, Nemaha, 
Pawnee and Richardson. 

Second District. Cass and Otoe. 

Third District. Lancaster. 

Fourth District. Burt, Douglas, Sarpy and Wash¬ 
ington. 

Fifth District. Butler, Hamilton, Polk, Saunders, 
Seward and York. 

Sixth District. Colfax, Dodge, Merrick, Nance and 
Platte. 

Seventh District. Clay, Fillmore, Nuckolls, Saline 
and Thayer. 

Eighth District. Cedar, Cuming, Dakota, Dixon, 
Stanton and Thurston. 

Ninth District. Antelope, Knox, Madison, Pierce 
and Wayne. 

Tenth District. Adams, Franklin, Harlan, Kearney, 
Phelps and Webster. 

Eleventh District. Blaine, Boone, Garfield, Grant, 
Greeley, Hall, Hooker, Howard, Loup, Thomas, Valley 
and Wheeler. 

Twelfth District. Buffalo, Custer, Dawson and 
Sherman. 

Thirteenth District. Arthur, Banner, Cheyenne, 
Deuel, Keith, Kimball, Lincoln, Logan, McPherson, Per¬ 
kins and Scotts Bluff. 

Fourteenth District. Chase, Dundy, Frontier, Fur¬ 
nas, Gosper, Hayes, Hitchcock and Red Willow. 

Fifteenth District. Box Butte, Brown, Cherry 


GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. 


!9 


Dawes, Holt, Iveya Paha, Rock, Sheridan, Sioux, and 
the unorganized territory (now included in Boyd County.) 

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS. 

The state is divided into six congressional districts, in 
each of which one member of Congress is elected every 
two years. The counties constituting the several districts 
are as follows: 

First District. Cass, Johnson, Lancaster, Nemaha, 
Otoe, Pawnee and Richardson. 

Second District. Douglas, Sarpy and Washington. 

Third District. Antelope, Boone, Burt, Cedar, Col¬ 
fax, Cuming, Dakota, Dixon, Dodge, Knox, Madison, 
Merrick, Nance, Pierce, Platte, Stanton, Thurston and 
W ayne. 

Fourth District. Butler, Fillmore, Gage, Hamilton, 
Jefferson, Polk, Saline, Saunders, Seward, Thayer and 
York. 

Fifth District. Adams, Chase, Clay, Dundy, Frank¬ 
lin, Frontier, Furnas, Gosper, Hall, Harlan, Hayes, 
Hitchcock, Kearney, Nuckolls, Perkins, Phelps, Red 
Willow and Webster. 

Sixth District. Arthur, Banner, Blaine, Box Butte, 
Boyd, Brown, Buffalo, Cherry, Cheyenne, Custer, Dawes, 
Dawson, Deuel, Garfield, Grant, Greeley, Holt, Hooker, 
Howard, Keith, Keya Paha, Kimball, Lincoln, Logan, 
Loup, McPherson, Rock, Scotts Bluff, Sheridan, Sher¬ 
man, Sioux, Thomas, Valley and Wheeler. 


CHAPTER VI—CORPORATE POWERS. 

Precincts, legislative districts, judicial districts and 
congressional districts are mere pieces of territory set off 
for purposes other than that of self-government. In the 



20 


GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. 


farming community, the precinct is set off for convenience 
of voting, and a tract of county of size convenient for the 
duties of an assessor and for local courts. But the people 
of a precinct have no power to take any action outside of 
the election of certain officers. In the same degree, the 
people of the other districts named in this paragraph, can 
do nothing beyond the election of certain officers. 

All the other districts named heretofore, the village, 
city, school district, township and county, are corpora¬ 
tions. That is, all the people in each such district may 
make some rules and regulations for their own govern¬ 
ment in many local matters. In addition to the power to 
make such rules and regulations, they may also, as a body 
of people, buy, own and sell property, real or personal, 
when they need to do so, in the ordinary course of their 
business of local government; they may also make contracts 
that shall bind all the people and all the property in the 
district; they may also sue, and be sued, in the courts. 
They may do all these just as a business firm or company 
might do, and with the same effect. The precincts and 
other districts first mentioned can do none of these things. 
Legally, a corporation is a collection of persons authorized 
to act as an individual. The word comes from the Latin, 
corpus , a body. 

QUESTIONS. 

What districts, or sub-divisions of a state, have corporate 
powers, and what have not? What are corporate powers ? Why 
are such powers advantageous to such districts? 



DIVISION II. 


THE STATE. 

CHAPTER I.—DIVISION OF fOWERS. 

The powers and functions of a state are divided into 
three sections, called “departments.” This is because the 
state government performs three sets of duties. These 
sets differ so widely from each other that each can best be 
exercised by officers who do not have anything to do 
with either of the other sets of duties. In a monarchical 
government, all these duties are performed by one man. 
This may be one reason that such a form of government 
is so unsatisfactory, so unpopular. In a republican gov¬ 
ernment, like that of the United States, and of the State 
of Nebraska, and in nations where there is a near approach 
to such a government, as in England, it is found by ex¬ 
perience that each set of duties can best be performed by 
a separate and distinct set of officers. These three de¬ 
partments are called the Legislative, Executive, and Judi¬ 
cial Departments. 

THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 

This is the department that makes the laws. The word 
means “ law-bringing,” “ law-bearing:” The idea is that, 
as the legislature directly represents the people, and as 
the people are the source of all authority—their will 
being law, as the will of the Emperor is the law of the 
empire—the enactment of laws is simply an expression of 
the will of the people, the putting of that will into words. 
In this sense, the legislature brings the law from the peo¬ 
ple and puts it into the form of statutes. 


(21) 


22 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


In a more general sense, the legislature determines what 
rules are best for the people of the state, what regulations 
are wisest, and how these rules and regulations shall be 
enforced, and by what officers. “Law” is but another 
name for “rules and regulations.” All this involves a de¬ 
termination of the extent that individual rights may be 
encroached upon under the constitution, in order to benefit 
all the people. The constitution provides by what state 
officers the general affairs of the state shall be admin¬ 
istered, but it wisely leaves to the legislature the duty of 
regulating the smaller matters of local government. Nearly 
all control of cities, villages, counties, schools and of the 
ordinary rights and duties of officers and citizens, is given 
to the legislature. 

In addition to the duty of making the laws, the legisla¬ 
ture, as the immediate representative of the people, not 
only in the election at the polls, but in the selection at the 
caucuses, also, is given a sort of oversight of other state 
officers of both departments, and it may impeach any of 
them for official misconduct. This department is the most 
important and the most powerful one in the state govern¬ 
ment. 

THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 

This department has control of the enforcement of the 
general laws, except such as are enforced through the ju¬ 
dicial department. «There are but two methods of en¬ 
forcing the laws. One is through the judicial department, 
and the other is by the militia, which is under the control 
of the governor. When any member of the executive de¬ 
partment meets resistance in the discharge of his duties, 
he must resort, in ordinary cases, to the courts and in 
more serious cases to the militia. This department 
ought to have been called the administrative department. 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


2 3 


The officers in this branch of the state government 
have charge of the administration of certain duties. The 
laws of the state are executed or enforced by certain 
other officers specially designated for that service. In 
a certain sense, the executive officers, with the governor 
at their head, also represent the state in its corporate 
capacity, and in its intercourse with other states and with 
the United States. 

THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 

To this department is entrusted the duty to interpret 
the laws and even the constitution itself; to determine 
when the acts of the legislature are in conflict, or accord, 
with the constitution; when the action of other officers 
are such as the laws mean that they shall be, and when 
the actions of individuals or corporations are violative of 
the laws, or of the rights of others. As different people 
disagree about the meaning of the words of the constitu¬ 
tion, of the laws, and of contracts, and as these disagree¬ 
ments lead to trouble, this department settles all such 
troubles. It is like the umpire, in base ball; it decides 
points of dispute. The courts do not entertain cases that 
do not contain actual conflicts of interest. They do not 
decide points that are referred to them in a spirit of 
curiosity. 


QUESTIONS. 

Into how many departments are the.powers of a state divided ? 
Why are those powers so divided ? What is the legislative de¬ 
partment ? What is the meaning of “legislative ?” What are 
laws ? How are laws enforced ? What is the function of the ex¬ 
ecutive department—of the judicial department? Do all govern¬ 
ments have these divisions ? 



\ POLITICAL. DIVISIONS. 

CHAPTER II.—LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 


The general powers and duties of this department have 
been stated already in the preceding chapter. It remains 
for us, then, in this chapter, to consider the constitution 
of this department, and the methods by which it exerts its 
powers. 

This department has four parts: a senate, a house of 
representatives, the governor, and the lieutenant governor. 
The senate is composed of thirty-three members, elected 
for two years. For the election of the senators the state 
is divided into thirty districts. One district elects three 
senators, one district elects two senators, and all the other 
districts elect one senator each. Many districts comprise 
more than one county. The house of representatives is 
composed of one hundred members, elected from sixty- 
three districts, for a term of two years. 

The members of the senate and of the house must be 
voters. They must also reside in the districts from which 
they are chosen, and must have resided therein one year 
before the day of election. No person who holds an office 
under the authority of the State of Nebraska, or of the 
United States, which pays a living compensation, (except¬ 
ing township officers, justices of the peace, and a few 
others) can be elected to either house. This is for the 
reason that persons can not do two things at once, and 
thus should not draw two salaries at the same time. In 
order to protect the state against the action of unscrupu¬ 
lous members who might have a money-interest in the 
passage of any law, it is provided that no person can be a 
member of either house who has any claim against the 
state, or who has any interest in any contract with the 
state. 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


25 


Privileges of Members. Members of each house 
cannot be arrested during the session of the legislature, 
nor for fifteen days before the session, nor for fifteen days 
after its close, for any cause except for treason or other 
felony, or for a breach of the peace. No member can be 
made liable, in any civil action, or in any criminal pro¬ 
ceeding, for any words spoken in debate in the legislature. 
These provisions are in order that the members may not 
be interrupted in the discharge of their duty by interested 
parties, and that they may be free from annoyance for 
petty offenses, and that they may be fearless in the ex¬ 
posure of the misconduct of others. 

Sessions. Each regular session begins at noon on the 
first Tuesday of January of the odd-numbered years, 1893, 
<fcc. There is but one regular session in two years, but 
the governor may call a special session whenever, in his 
judgment, the public interest demands it. When a special 
session is called, the proclamation must state the objects 
of the session; that is, what public interests require the 
session; and the legislature cannot take up any business 
that is not specified in the call—excepting, of course, its 
own organization, which is a right inherent in all legisla¬ 
tive bodies. 

Organization. At the time fixed for opening the 
session, the secretary of state calls the house to attention, 
and presides until a presiding officer is elected from its 
own members. The lieutenant-governor is the president 
of the senate, by virtue of his office. After the presiding 
officer is selected, each house elects such other officers as 
it may need. 

Quorum. A majority of the members elected to each 
house forms a quorum; it makes the number required to 
do any business. If there is not that number present, at 


2 6 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


any time, the house can do no business except to send for 
the absent members, or to adjourn. 

Rights of Each House. Each house determines for 
itself the rules and regulations that shall govern it in the 
transaction of its business, and chooses its own officers. It 
is the sole judge of the election and qualifications of its 
own members. Any dispute as to the election of mem¬ 
bers is settled by the house to which the persons claim to 
be elected. 

Expulsion of Members. Neither house can expel 
a member, except by a vote of two thirds of all the mem¬ 
bers elected to that house. After a member has been ex¬ 
pelled, his constituents may re-elect him, but he cannot 
be again expelled for the same offense. 

Power to Protect Itself. Each house may protect 
itself from the disorderly conduct and contemptuous be¬ 
havior, in its presence, of persons who are not members 
of that house, by arrest and imprisonment. Such im¬ 
prisonment cannot usually exceed twenty-four hours, for 
one offense. 

Journal. Each house keeps a journal, or record of 
its proceedings, and the same is published at the close of 
each session. Each house may have a secret session, at 
its discretion, and the proceedings of such session need 
not be published. 

How Members Vote. At the request of any two 
members, the “yeas and nays” must be called and recorded 
in voting upon any question. This consists in calling the 
name of each member, who votes “aye” or “no,” and the 
vote is so recorded. Upon the passage of a bill or of a 
joint resolution, the vote must be by “yea and nay,” and 
must be recorded whether it is demanded or not. All 
votes given in each house are open; by viva voce , by the 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


27 


living voice. While we say that the vote is by “yea and 
nay,” yet as a matter of fact, the members always answer 
“aye” or “no” when they vote by “yea and nay.” 

Officers. Each house has a presiding officer. In the 
house of representatives, this officer is called the speaker; 
and in the senate, the president. The lieutenant-governor 
is president of the senate by virtue of his office, and votes 
in case of a tie only; but the senate always elects a presi¬ 
dent of the senate, who acts during the absence or dis¬ 
ability of the lieutenant-governor. The senate has a 
secretary, and the house a chief clerk, and each has 
several assistants, as many as each house deems best. In 
addition to these, each house has a sergeant-at-arms, a 
janitor, a postmaster, a mail carrier, and often other sub¬ 
ordinates. 

Rules. The constitution lays down some rules for 
the passage of bills through the legislature; these rules, 
together with the rules and regulations specially adopted 
by each house for its guidance, determine the methods 
and forms by which laws are made. At the beginning of 
each session, after organization, each house adopts the 
rules that it desires, and both houses adopt certain other 
rules to govern their joint action. 

Committees are appliances for assisting in the work 
of legislation. Each house provides in its rules for the 
appointment of as many committees as it may need. The 
house has over thirty committees, most of which consist 
of seven members each; while a few, the most important, 
consist of nine members each. The senate has nearly an 
equal number of committees, consisting of a less number 
of members. To these committees, each house refers bills. 
Each committee *is named for the subject of legislation 
over which it has jurisdiction. To the committee on 


28 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


“Finance, Ways and Means,” are referred all bills that 
pertain to raising revenue. A committee on “ Appro¬ 
priations ” considers all bills that relate to the disburse¬ 
ment of the public funds. So, to committees on Agricul¬ 
ture, Education, State Institutions, Cities, Counties, 
Railroads, Roads, Militia, are referred all bills, petitions 
and memorials relating to those subjects. No committee 
can take action upon any subject until a bill or other 
paper upon that subject has been referred to it by its 
house. 

Bills. Each house may originate bills on any subject 
except one; the senate cannot originate bills appropriating 
the public funds; such bills must originate in the house. 
The house is the largest body and its members are elected 
from the smallest districts, wherefore it is presumed to 
represent, more fully and accurately, the people of the 
state. But any bill passed by either house may be amend¬ 
ed by the other. A “ bill ” is the name given to the draft 
of a law when it is introduced and before it becomes a law 
by the signature of the governor, or otherwise,—then it 
is called an act, law or statute. 

The Enacting Clause is that part of a law that 
gives force to it. It must be in this form: “Be it enacted 
by the Legislature of the State of Nebraska.” If this 
clause is lacking, the bill cannot become a law and its 
passage is a nullity. 

Title. A bill can have but one subject, and that must 
be clearly expressed in its title. This is a precaution to 
prevent deception and confusion. It enables members to 
know what subject the bill actually contains, so that they 
may give it special attention, or not, as they may be inter¬ 
ested in that subject. So a person—lawyer or judge— 
looking up the law upon a certain subject shall need but 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


2 9 


to read the title of an act in order to be sure that the body 
of the act does or does not contain what he desires to find. 
If a bill undertakes to amend a section or an act, it must 
repeat the whole section or the whole act just as it will 
read after it is amended. The title reads somewhat in 
this form; “A bill for an act to appropriate money to de¬ 
fray the expenses of the state government for the two years 
ending March 31, 1895;” or, “A bill for an act to amend 
section six of an act to provide a system of revenue, ap¬ 
proved March 1, 1879.” 

Method of Legislation. When a bill is introduced, 
it is read in full by the clerk. If no one objects, it is 
ordered to be read a second time on a subsequent day. If 
any one does object, a vote is taken on the motion to read 
it a second time; if the motion is lost, the bill is rejected; 
if the motion carries, the bill goes over till another day. 
It is very seldom that any one does object to a second 
reading of a bill. The second reading takes place on a 
subsequent day, as the constitution provides that bills shall 
be read three times on three separate days. 

Upon the second reading, the bill is ordered to be 
printed and is referred to a proper committee, unless some 
member objects to such action. If any objection is made, 
a vote is taken as before. After a bill is printed, a copy 
is delivered to each member of that house, and the com¬ 
mittee to which it has been referred consults about it. If 
the committee approve the bill as it reads, it reports the 
bill back to the house and recommend that it pass. If the 
committee approve the substance of the bill, but find it 
defective or incomplete, the bill is amended, or a substi¬ 
tute for it is prepared; the amended bill or substitute is 
reported to the house with a recommendation that it pass. 
If the committee do not approve the bill, either in sub- 


30 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


stance or form, a report to that effect is made to the house, 
with the recommendation that the bill do not pass. The 
committee, when it makes its report, can state the reasons 
for its approval or disapproval, or it need not do so. 

After the committee has reported, the house may adojit 
or reject the report. If the report is favorable to the bill 
and the report is adopted, the bill is then ordered to be 
sent to the committee of the whole. If a report is un¬ 
favorable to the bill, a rejection of the report also sends 
the bill to the committee of the whole, or may send it 
back to the same committee for farther action, or to an¬ 
other committee. If the report is favorable, and the 
report is rejected, that usually kills the bill, although it 
may still be recommitted to the same or to another com¬ 
mittee. In case of such recommittal, the house usually 
instructs the committee what to do with the bill. The 
house may favor a bill which the committee may not 
favor; in which case, the house will send it to a select 
committee made up of members a majority of whom are 
friends of the bill. 

The Committee of the Whole consists of the 
whole house acting without the formalities and restric¬ 
tions of the rules of the house, in order that the sense of 
the members of the house may be learned easily and 
quickly. It is simply a committee of the house, and, 
although composed of all its members, it has no organi¬ 
zation but a chairman, who is designated by the presiding 
officer of the house, and a clerk elected by the house. 
Whatever action it takes is entirely informal and advis¬ 
ory, and must be reported to the house for approval. 
Usually, a bill is perfected in the committee of the whole 
and is passed by the house just as it comes from that 
committee. 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS- 


3* 


Sometimes the house reverses the action of the com. 
mittee. Some members will not vote, in the house 
where their votes will be recorded, as they voted in the 
committee where no record is kept. In this committee, 
amendments to the bill are proposed and voted upon, 
either adopted or rejected, and sometimes a substitute 
for the whole bill is adopted. 

Action of the House. After the committee of 
the whole has perfected a bill, it reports to the house the 
result of its' action, just as any other committee does. 
The house may then vote to adopt the report or to reject 
it as a whole. Usually, however, a “yea or nay” vote is 
aken in the house upon each amendment proposed by 
Hhe committee. Other amendments may also be pro¬ 
posed and adopted. In the committee of the whole, and 
in the house after its return from that committee, are the 
places for amending a bill. Usually, it is perfected in 
those places. When the house gets through with the 
bill, at this stage, it orders it engrossed for a third read- 
in", after which it cannot be amended without sending it 
to a committee. To engross a bill is to write it out just 
as it has been left by the house, putting the amendments 
into their proper places. This copy of the bill is com¬ 
pared with the original copy of the bill and of the 
amendments, by a proper committee. 

After Engrossment. After a bill has been en¬ 
grossed, it is so reported to the house, when it is called 
up for a third reading and for passage. It is read in full, 
just as it has been amended, by the clerk, and a vote 
taken at once upon its passage, by “yea and nay.” In 
each house it requires a majority of all the members 
elected to that house to vote for a bill in order to pass it. 


32 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


Action of the Other House. When a bill has 
been passed by one house, the clerk writes upon the out¬ 
side of the engrossed copy of the bill the fact that it has 
passed, and the date of its passage, and then delivers it 
to the other house. That other house has the right to 
amend it yet more, or to reject it entirely. If the other 
house should amend it, the bill, with its new amend¬ 
ments, are returned to the house from which it came. If 
that house agrees to the amendments, it so votes, and the 
bill is passed. If that house does not agree to the amend¬ 
ments proposed by the other house, it so votes and re¬ 
ports its action to that other house. That house may 
then drop the other amendments and pass the bill as it 
first came, or it may insist upon its amendments. In this 
last case both houses usually appoint committees who 
confer and make a compromise. When passed by both 
houses, the bill is enrolled, signed by the presiding 
officer of each house while the house is in actual session, 
and sent, by a committee of the house in which it origi¬ 
nated, to the governor. 

The Final Stage. The governor is one of the ex¬ 
ecutive officers, but the constitution provides that he shall 
approve bills before they can become laws, except as 
stated hereafter. When the governor approves a bill, 
he writes upon it “approved,” and signs his name as 
governor, with the date of approval. He reports such 
approval to the house where the bill originated. If he 
does not approve the bill, he returns it to the house 
wherein it originated, with his objections in writing. If 
the house is in session, the bill must be returned within 
five days (Sundays excepted) from the time he received 
it. If the legislature is not m session, then the bill and 
objections must be filed in the office of the secretary of 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


33 


state, within the same time. If the governor does not 
make one of these returns of the bill and of his objections 
within the five days, the bill becomes a law without his 
approval. If the legislature is in session when the gov¬ 
ernor’s objections are returned to it, the objections are 
entered at large upon the journal and the house proceeds 
to consider the objections. The house may adopt the 
governor’s objections and amend the bill to overcome 
them, or it may pass the bill over the objections. For 
this purpose three fifths of the members elected to the 
house are necessary. If the bill is passed over the veto, 
by the one house, it must then be sent to the other house 
for its action. The concurrence of both houses, by a 
three-fifths vote, is required to pass a bill over the gov¬ 
ernor’s veto. 

In the matter of appropriation bills, the governor may 
veto any particular item thereof in the same manner that 
he may veto any other bill, and may approve the residue 
of the bill. Such vetoes may be treated like other vetoes, 
by the legislature. 

When Laws Take Effect. It would be unjust to 
have laws take effect before people in distant sections of 
the state, and who might be seriously affected by them, 
know what the laws contain, or that such laws have been 
passed. Hence, the constitution requires that, except in 
extraordinary cases, laws shall not take effect for three 
calendar months after the adjournment of the legislature 
that passed them. When the nature of the law is such 
that it ought to take effect before the expiration of the 
three months, the fact that it shall so take effect at an 
earlier day must be stated in the bill. In this case, the 
bill requires two thirds of all the members elected to each 
house to pass it. 


34 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


Publication. In order that the people may have an 
opportunity to see what laws have been passed, the laws 
are published in book form as soon after adjournment as 
possible. These laws are distributed to the officers of the 
state at the public expense, and copies are sold to such 
individuals as may desire to purchase. 

United States Senator. At the last regular ses¬ 
sion before the expiration of the term of a United States 
senator from this state, the legislature elects his succes¬ 
sor. For this purpose, on the second Tuesday after the 
organization of both houses, each house votes separately 
for that officer. In case no one man has the majority of 
all the votes cast in each house, both houses must then 
meet in joint convention every day and take one ballot 
each day, until an election is made. It requires a major¬ 
ity of all the votes cast to elect. 

Adjournment. Neither house can adjourn for 
more than three days without the consent of the other 
house. All adjournments for a longer time than three 
days, and at the end of the session, must be made by 
concurrent or joint resolution. If there is a disagree¬ 
ment of the two houses as to the matter of adjournment, 
with reference to the date of the adjournment, as well as 
to the time to which the adjournment shall extend, the 
house that first moves the resolution of adjournment cer¬ 
tifies all the facts to the Governor and he is authorized 
to adjourn the legislature from such a date to such a date 
as to him shall seem best. 

PROHIBITION OF POWER. 

In the constitution, there are certain prohibitions upon 
the power of the legislature. The bill of rights, as we 
have seen, contains a great many prohibitions Upon the 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


35 


power of the state. These apply equally to each branch 
of the state government, and to each officer thereof. 
And when the bill of rights makes a positive demand for 
certain things to be, or to be done, it is a prohibition 
upon the contrary being or being done. Thus, in section 
thirteen of the bill of rights, it says that all courts shall 
be open; it thereby prohibits the state or any department 
or officer thereof, or even any individual citizen of the 
state, closing the courts, whether by law, by official 
action or by individual effort. In addition to these 
general prohibitions, there are others laid expressly upon 
the power of the legislature. 

Local Laws. Section fifteen of Article III, prohibits 
the passage of local, or special laws upon twenty-four 
different, enumerated subjects of legislation. Experience 
has shown that special legislation is the one great and sure 
source of corruption in this department of the government, 
at the same time that it introduces inequalities into the 
government of the state and gives special privileges where 
the privileges ought to be free and open to all. 

Othkrs. (1.) In addition to the prohibitions upon 
the passage of special laws, the legislature is forbidden to 
grant extra compensation to any public officer, agent, 
servant or contractor of the state. This is a safeguard 
against corruption and profligacy. The compensation of 
a public officer cannot be increased nor diminished during 
the term for which he was elected. If an officer resign 
and the compensation of the office be increased, he cannot 
be appointed to the vacancy after such increase. If a 
person is so well satisfied with the compensation of an 
office as to accept it, he should be so satisfied to the end 
of the term, or resign. 

(2.) The legislature cannot sell, mortgage or otherwise 


3^ 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


dispose of the salt springs, nor donate any public lands 
to any railroad company, nor to any other corporation or 
individual. 

(3.) The legislature is forbidden to authorize or to 
legalize lotteries, gift enterprises or games of chance, in 
any manner or form, or under any pretense. 

(4.) The legislature cannot form a county so that that 
county, or the one from which it shall be taken, shall 
have an area less than four hundred square miles, and no 
county can be divided without the assent of the voters in¬ 
terested. 

(5.) No corporation can be created, nor can the charter 
of one be extended, changed or amended, (except those of 
state institutions for purposes of charity, education, 
punishment or reformation), by any special law. In all 
cases, the constitution says, where a general law can be 
made applicable, no special law shall be enacted. This 
leaves very narrow limits for special laws. 

CONSTITUTIONAL COMMANDS. 

When the bill of rights says that certain things shall 
be, these commands enforce themselves to the extent that 
no legislation is required to enable the courts and officers 
to take notice of and to enforce them. With some other 
commands of the constitution, it is different; the legisla¬ 
ture must pass laws for their enforcement. These com¬ 
mands are as follows: 

(1.) Census. In 1885, and every ten years thereafter,, 
the legislature shall provide for a census of all the inhabi¬ 
tants of the state. At its first regular session after this census 
and after the United States census, the legislature shall 
divide the state into senatorial and representative districts, 
and shall apportion the members of the senate and of the 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


37 


house among such districts according to the number of 
the inhabitants of each district. In this apportionment, 
Indians not taxed, and officers, soldiers and marines of the 
United States army and navy are not to be counted. 

(2.) Appropriations. The appropriations for the 
expenses of the state government shall be made by each 
legislature, to extend to two years from the close of the 
fiscal, or calendar, quarter in which the legislature ad¬ 
journs. 

(3.) Vacancies. Provisions shall be made, by a gen¬ 
eral law, for filling such vacancies in the constitutional 
offices as are not provided for in the constitution. 

(4.) Free Schools. The legislature shall provide for 
the free instruction, in the common schools of the state, 
of all persons of the state between the ages of live years 
and twenty-one years. 

(5.) Distribution of School Funds. Provision shall 
be made for an equitable distribution of the income of the 
school fund, among the school districts of the state. 

(6.) Equal Taxation. The legislature is required to 
provide a sufficient revenue for the expenses of the govern¬ 
ment, in all its departments and grades, in such manner 
that every person and corporation shall pay a just propor¬ 
tion of the taxes according to the value of his or its 
property or franchises. That value shall be ascertained 
in such manner as the legislature shall direct. 

(7.) Funding State Debt. The constitution in¬ 
structed the legislature to provide, at its first session, a 
law for the funding of the state debts, including treasury 
warrants and the floating indebtedness, at a rate of inter¬ 
est not exceeding eight per cent. This command of the 
constitution was obeyed by the legislature of 1877. 


38 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


(8.) Auditing Claims. The legislature shall provide 
for the examination, by the auditor of public accounts, 
and approval by the secretary of state, of all claims 
against the state, before their payment, and for an ap¬ 
peal, by those aggrieved by the decision of those two of¬ 
ficers, to the district court. 

(9.) County and Township Officers. The legisla¬ 
ture shall provide for the election of such county officers 
and township officers as may be necessary. 

(10.) Township Organization. The legislature shall 
provide, by general law, for a township organization of 
counties whose voters desire it. 

(11.) Railroads. The legislature shall pass laws, 
with suitable penalties, enforcing the provisions of section 
one, article XI, concerning railroads and their reports to 
the state officers. 

(12.) Regulating Railroads. The legislature shall 
pass laws to correct abuses and prevent unjust discrimi¬ 
nation and extortion in all charges of express companies, 
telegraph companies and railroad companies. 

(13.) Militia. The legislature shall determine by 
law what persons shall constitute the militia of the state. 

(14.) Suits Against the State. The legislature is 
required to provide the manner and in what courts the 
state may be sued. 

CONSTITUTIONAL GRANTS. 

There are also several special grants of authority to the 
legislature, by the constitution, which do not amount to 
commands. This authority may be exercised by the leg¬ 
islature or it may not be exercised. The following are 
the subjects of legislation that come under this head: 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


39 


(1.) Judicial Districts. The division of the state 
into judicial districts may be changed at the will of the 
legislature, and the districts and judges may be increased 
in the legislative discretion. But no increase, and no 
change in the boundaries, of districts can be made so as 
to shorten the term of any judge of a district. 

(2.) Votes of Militia. Laws may be made pro 
viding that voters, in the military or naval service of the 
United States, and not in the regular army or navy, may 
be allowed the exercise of the right of suffrage. 

(3.) Reformatories. Reform schools for children, 
under the age of sixteen years, may be established. 

(4.) Cities and Villages. The legislature may vest 
in cities, villages and towns, the authority to make assess¬ 
ments upon property for local improvements and to levy 
and collect taxes for corporate expenses. 

(5.) Regulate Railroad Charges. The legislature 
may establish maximum rates of charges for the transpor¬ 
tation of passengers and freight on the railroads of the 
state. 

The courts of states have rather uniformly held that 
the legislature is the judge of its own duty in respect to 
obedience to affirmative commands of the constitution, 
and that there is no means for compelling a legislature to 
pass a law on any subject. The only redress that the 
people have, when the legislature refuses to do its duty, 
is to displace the members by the election of others. 


QUESTIONS. 

Name the parts composing the legislature. How many mem¬ 
bers in each house, and how elected? What are the qualifications 
of members? What are the privileges of members? lien are 
regular sessions held? When special sessions? How do the 



4 ° 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


houses of the legislature organize ? How many constitute a quorum 
and wliat is a quorum? What are the rights of each house? 
What is the rule about expulsion of members? How may each 
house protect itself ? What about a journal ? Explain how mem¬ 
bers vote. What officers has each house? What is said about 
rules? What are committees, and how constituted ? What is said 
of bills? What is the enacting clause? Describe the method of 
enacting laws. What is the committee of the whole, and how 
constituted? What action follows the action of the committee of 
the whole ? Why is a bill engrossed, and what occurs after en¬ 
grossment? After a bill has passed in one house, what then be¬ 
comes of it ? Detail the stages of a bill after both houses have 
agreed upon it. When do laws take effect? When and why are 
law r s published ? How are United States senators elected ? What 
is said about an adjournment of the legislature? AVhat prohibi¬ 
tion does the constitution place upon the power of the legisla¬ 
ture? What general advantage in such prohibitions? How do 
local laws tend to corrupt a people ? Name some of the prohibi¬ 
tions. What is the constitutional command in regard to the census, 
appropriations, vacancies, free schools, school funds, equality of 
taxation, the state debt, auditing claims against the state, local 
officers, township organization, railroads, militia, and suits against 
the state ? In case the legislature does not obey the constitution, 
what remedy has the people? What other remedy ought the 
people to have, and why ? 

CHAPTER III—EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 

The executive or administrative department of the state 
consists of the following officers: governor, lieutenant- 
governor, secretary of state, auditor of public accounts, 
treasurer, attorney-general, superintendent of public in¬ 
struction, and commissioner of public lands and buildings. 
There are also five boards, composed of portions of these 
officers, namely: board of public lands and buildings, 
board in charge of educational lands and funds, board of 
public printing, board of transportation, and state board 
of health, and a bureau of labor and industry. 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


4 1 


Some Qualifications. The governor and lieutenant- 
governor must be thirty years of age, and must have re¬ 
sided in the state two years previous to their election. 
No one of these officers, except the lieutenant-governor, is 
eligible to any other state office during the period for 
which he was elected. 

The treasurer may be elected for two consecutive terms, 
but he cannot be elected for a third term until two years 
have passed since the close of his second term. This pro¬ 
vision is not uncommon as applied to officers who handle 
the public funds, as it permits a complete examination of 
that officer’s books, and compels a counting of the funds 
in his hands. A frequent examination of the books and 
funds of public officers, who are the custodians of public 
money, is one of the best means to prevent defalcations. 

The Governor. The chief officer of this department 
is the governor. * The constitution says that he “shall 
take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” Neither 
the constitution nor the laws point out the means by 
which he shall secure the faithful execution of the laws. 
Iij the instance of a county officer, where the law said 
that he should do a certain act but did not point out the 
means, the supreme court decided that he might use any 
means that would accomplish the purpose. It is probable 
that the same court would sustain the principle of that 
decision in its application to this duty imposed upoq the 
governor by the constitution. 

Makes Appointments. The governor issues commis¬ 
sions to all the officers of the executive department, and 
of the judicial department, and to the military and naval 
officers. He nominates, and, by the consent of the sen¬ 
ate, he appoints all officers for which the constitution and 
laws do not otherwise provide, and he may remove, for 


42 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


incompetency, neglect of duty, and malfeasance in office* 
any officer whom he appoints. He also fills vacancies in 
most of the offices in the executive and judicial depart¬ 
ments. 

Message. At the beginning of each session of the 
legislature, at the close of his term of office, and at any 
other time when the legislature may request, the governor 
must send a message to the legislature, giving such infor¬ 
mation about the public business and recommending 
such laws as he may deem best for the state. In his mes¬ 
sage, at the beginning of the session, he must present an 
estimate of the amount of funds needed for the expenses 
of the state government for the next two years. 

Reports. Before the beginning of the regular session 
of the legislature, each officer of this department, and the 
head of each state institution, sends to the governor a re¬ 
port of his office or of his institution. These reports are 
transmitted by the governor to the legislature with his 
message. The governor is also authorized to require from 
any officer of this department, and from the head of any 
state institution, information in writing and under oath, 
upon any subject officially pertaining to that office or to 
that institution. 

Pardons. The governor may pardon any person who 
has been convicted, under the laws of the state, of any 
crime except treason and cases of impeachment. He may 
also commute any sentence to a less harsh or ignominious 
one. He may grant reprieves at his discretion. He must 
report to the legislature his whole action in these matters. 

Mi li tary Rank. The governor is the commander-in- 
chief of the military and naval forces of the state, when 
they are not called into the service of the United States* 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


43 


and he may call them out at any time to help execute the' 
laws, to suppress insurrection, and to repel invasion. 

As we have already seen, the governor may call extra 
sessions of the legislature whenever, in his opinion, the 
public interests demand it. In treating the legislative 
department, in the last chapter, it has been shown that 
the governor may adjourn the legislature w T hen the two 
houses disagree on that subject, and that ordinarily bills 
must be signed by the governor before they can become 
laws. 

The Lieutenant-Governor is the presiding officer 
of the senate, and as such is, in some sense, a part of the 
legislative department. In case of the death, impeach¬ 
ment, failure to qualify, resignation, absence from the 
state, or other inability of the governor to perform the 
duties of his office, the lieutenant-governor succeeds as 
chief executive of the state, with the same rank, title, 
powers, emoluments, rights, privileges, and duties as the 
governor had enjoyed, or may enjoy. When presiding in 
the senate, he votes in case of a tie, only. 

The Secretary of State has charge of all the papers, 
documents, laws and resolutions of the legislature after 
its adjournment, and he publishes the laws and proceed¬ 
ings of that body. lie countersigns all commissions 
issued by the governor, and approves claims allowed 
against the state by the auditor. 

The Auditor. The auditor of public accounts is the 
general accounting officer of the state. He keeps all the 
books, vouchers and documents relating to the accounts, 
contracts, revenue and fiscal affairs of the state. Before 
the regular session of the legislature, he sends to the 
governor a digested statement of the condition of the 
finances and of the expenditures of the last two years, 


44 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


and an estimate of the revenue needed for the next two 
years, and such plans as he may form for diminishing 
the expenses, increasing the public credit, and promot¬ 
ing the efficiency of the revenue system. 

He audits, adjusts and settles all claims against the 
state, if such claims arise under authority of any statute; 
draws warrants against the state treasury for the payment 
of such claims; keeps the accounts with all county treas¬ 
urers, and settles with them annually. 

The Treasurer receives the money of the state and 
pays it out on the warrants of the auditor, countersigned 
by the secretary of state. He reports to the legislature 
the condition of the treasury, at its regular session, and 
at any other time when ihe legislature may request it. 

The Attorney General is the law officer of the 
state. He appears for the state, in the supreme court, in 
all criminal cases and in all civil actions in which the state 
has any interest. He prepares drafts of contracts, and 
gives opinions -on matters of law for any state officer, 
whenever requested. 

The Superintendent of Public Instruction is at 

the head of the educational interests of the state. His 
powers and duties are given fully in the chapter on Edu¬ 
cation. 

The Commissioner and Board of Public Lands 
and Buildings. The commissioner of public lands 
and buildings is the chairman and executive officer of 
the board of public lands and buildings. This board con¬ 
sists of this officer, the secretary of state, the treasurer 
and attorney general, and it has general supervision of all 
the public buildings and lands of the state, except the 
lands and buildings belonging to the common school fund 
or to any of the educational institutions. The charge of 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


45 


the board extends to the state capitol, the penitentiary, 
the asylums for the blind, the deaf and dumb and the 
insane, the reform schools, to the salt lands and salt 
springs, and to all the grounds connected with those 
buildings. All the records, papers, documents, lists of 
lands, titles and other matters relating to these lands or 
buildings are kept in the office of the commissioner. 

Board of School Lands and Funds. The gov¬ 
ernor, secretary of state, treasurer, attorney general and 
the commissioner of public lands and buildings constitute 
a board for the control of the lands donated to the state, 
by the United States, for the common schools, for the 
state university and for the agricultural college, and of 
the funds derived from such lands. The records, papers, 
documents and lists pertaining to these lands, are kept in 
the office of the commissioner of public lands and build¬ 
ings, who is the chairman and executive officer of the 
board. 

Board of Public Printing. The auditor, treasurer 
and secretary of state constitute a board for awarding the 
public printing for the state. In November, of the year 
next preceding the regular meeting of the legislature, the 
board advertises for proposals for the state printing. In 
December, the bids are opened and the awards are made 
to the lowest and best responsible bidder. The award is 
for the two years next following. This printing includes 
the reports of the state officers and of the public institu¬ 
tions, the bills, journals, and laws of the legislature, and 
the blank books and other printing needed by the state 
officers and public institutions. 

Board of Transportation. The attorney general, 
the secretary of state, the auditor of public accounts, the 
treasurer, and the commissioner of public lands and build- 


4 6 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


ings constitute the board of transportation. The board 
has authority to inquire into the management of the busi¬ 
ness of common carriers, and may require the attendance 
and testimony of witnesses, and the production of books, 
papers, contracts and tariffs, and may inquire into all 
complaints against such common carriers. It has a gen¬ 
eral supervision of the railroads of the state, shall inspect 
the condition of the road, track and rolling stock, with 
reference to the safety, interest, and convenience of the 
public, and inquire into complaints of discrimination 
against patrons. It shall require an annual report from 
common carriers concerning cost of construction and of 
operation, and the volume of its business. When it finds 
complaints to be well-founded, it makes such orders as it 
may deem best. It makes an annual report to the gover¬ 
nor of all its proceedings and actions during the year. 

State Board of Health. The governor, the attor¬ 
ney general, and the superintendent of public instruction 
constitute the state board of health. This board inquires 
into the competency of persons to practice medicine, sur¬ 
gery and obstetrics in the state of Nebraska, and grants 
certificates to those found to be competent; it is also re¬ 
quired to see that all laws concerning the practice of 
medicine, surgery and obstetrics in the state are enforced. 

Labor and Industry. The governor is commis¬ 
sioner of the bureau of labor census and industrial sta¬ 
tistics. He has a deputy commissioner who does most of 
the work. The duty of this bureau is to collate and pub¬ 
lish statistics and facts relative to manufacturers, indus¬ 
trial classes, and material resources of the state, and 
especially to examine into the relations between labor 
and capital. The bureau examines also into such sub¬ 
jects as protection to life and health in factories, shops 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


47 


and mines; the employment of children in such places; 
the hours of employment in labor; the educational, sani¬ 
tary, moral and financial condition of laborers and arti¬ 
sans; the cost of food, fuel, clothing, and material for 
building; the causes and results of strikes, and other 
matters affecting the industrial and manufacturing classes. 

QUESTIONS. 

What officers constitute the state department? What are some 
qualifications required for governor and lieutenant governor? For 
treasurer? What is the general duty of the governor? What ap¬ 
pointments does he make? What about the governor’s message? 
What reports may he call for? What is the law about pardon? 
What relation has the governor to the militia? What are the 
duties of the lieutenant-governor? The secretary of state? The 
auditor? The treasurer? The attorney-general ? The superin¬ 
tendent of public instruction? The commissioner of lands and 
buildings? What are the powers and duties of the board of 
public lands and buildings? The board of school lands and funds? 
The board of public printing? The board of transportation? The 
state board of health? The bureau of labor and industry? What 
advantage may the bureau of labor and industry be to the state ? 


CHAPTER IV.—JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 

The third department of the state government is the 
judicial. The judges of the supreme court and of the 
district courts are elected from the lawyers of the state, 
who have had long experience in the practice of the pro¬ 
fession, and who are known to be learned in the law\ The 
supreme court is the apex of the judicial system of the 
state. This system consists of the justices of the peace, 
constables, police judges, judges of the county courts, 
judges of the district courts, district attorneys, reporters, 
clerks and sheriffs, and the judges of the supreme court, 


4 8 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


clerk and reporter; the court of impeachment, clerk and 
reporter. 

Powers of the Courts. The different courts do not 
all have the same power; that is, they do not all have the 
right to try suits of the same amount, nor suits about the 
same matter. But all the judges and justices of the peace 
have the right to administer an oath or affirmation in any 
matter; to take acknowledgements of written instruments, 
like deeds and mortgages; to perform a marriage cere¬ 
mony. They may also all act as peace officers; that is, to 
take measures to preserve the peace, by causing the arrest 
of those who disturb the peace in their presence. In most 
other respects the different courts have different duties, 
and different powers. 

The Police Judge has the exclusive right to try all 
the cases of violation of city ordinances, and he also 
hears criminal cases for offenses against the state law\s, 
w T hen the offense is committed inside of the city limits, 
and if the crime could be heard by a justice of the peace. 
The penalties which police justices may inflict cannot be 
more than a fine of one hundred dollars and imprison¬ 
ment in the county jail for three months. City marshals, 
police officers, constables and sheriffs may act as execu¬ 
tive officers of police courts, and serve papers or make 
arrests. Juries are not called in these courts, unless 
specially demanded by the accused. The jury consists of 
six voters, selected from citizens of the city. 

Justices of the Peace. It lias already been stated 
that two justices of the peace and tw T o constables are 
elected in each precinct and in each township. If a pre¬ 
cinct or a township contains a city, the law modifies that 
statement. In metropolitan cities six justices of the 
peace and six constables are elected; in cities of the first 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


49 


class, three justices and three constables; and in cities of 
the second class, two justices and two constables in each 
ward. 

A justice of the-peace has the right to try actions where 
the amount sued for does not exceed two hundred dollars, 
and the right to try criminal offenses when the fines may 
not exceed one hundred dollars, or the imprisonment in the 
jails three months. When crimes are committed in the 
county, the punishment for which may be more than one 
hundred dollars and the imprisonment more than three 
months, the justice of the peace may hear the evidence, 
and, if the evidence makes a probable case, the prisoner 
may be bound to appear at the next term of the district 
court for trial. 

A justice of the peace has not the right to try a suit for 
damages for assault and battery, for malicious prosecution 
or slander, suits against officers for misconduct in office, 
nor suits on contracts for real estate, nor any suit where 
the title to real estate may be in issue. Constables and 
sheriffs are executive officers of the justices’ courts for the 
service of papers and the arrest of accused persons. 

The County Court, in its civil and criminal juris¬ 
diction, is an enlarged justice’s court. It may try civil 
suits, where money or personal property is involved to 
the amount of one thousand dollars. It may try or hear 
criminal actions just as justices of the peace may do, and 
it has no right to try the classes of suits mentioned above 
which justices of the peace cannot try. 

Jurisdiction. When a court has authority over a 
matter, and no other court has that authority, that is 
called “exclusive jurisdiction,” because other courts are 
excluded from that jurisdiction. When two or more 
courts may try the same matter or case, that is called 

4 


50 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


“concurrent jurisdiction,” because the jurisdiction of them 
all run along together. Concurrent means “running to¬ 
gether.” 

The jurisdiction of justices of the peace and of county 
courts, over civil actions below two hundred dollars, is 
concurrent; the jurisdiction of county courts and of the 
district courts in actions over two hundred dollars and be¬ 
low one thousand dollars is concurrent. When a man has 
an action which he can bring into two or more courts, he 
can choose the court that suits him best. 

The county court has exclusive jurisdiction in several 
matters: 

(1.) When persons die leaving property, the county 
court has control of the property until the debts are paid 
and the property that is left can be distributed. If the 
deceased person leaves a will and appoints a person to dis¬ 
pose of the property, the court has control of the whole 
matter to see that everything is done as the will directs. 
If the will does not name any one to execute the will, the 
court appoints one. If a person dies without a will, the 
court appoints a person, called an administrator, to dis¬ 
pose of the property for the payment of the debts, and to 
distribute what is left among the heirs. 

(2.) When a person who is a minor,—that is, less than 
twenty one years of age,—has property of his own, the 
court appoints a guardian for him, and has control of the 
guardian to see that the property is well cared for until 
.the minor reaches the age of twenty-one. 

(3.) When a person with property is insane, or is him¬ 
self too old, or too ill, to manage it, the court will appoint 
a guardian to have charge of the property and to have the 
vcare of the person of the insane, aged, or sick person, and 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


51 


the court has control enough to prevent waste or bad 
usage of the person or property. 

(4.) If a person with property is a spendthrift, and is 
wasting his property by excessive drinking, gaming or 
other debauchery, a guardian may be appointed to take 
care of his property and person. 

(5.) When parties are bankrupt,—that is, when they 
cannot pay all their debts,—and they want to have all their 
property sold to pay as much of their debts as it can pay, 
they make an assignment for the benefit of their credi¬ 
tors. The county court has charge of this, and makes 
proper orders to the assignee in regard to the sale of the 
property and the payment of the debts. 

(6.) Whenever it is desirable that any person should 
adopt the child of another person, written application is 
made to the judge of the county court, who hears the ap¬ 
plication, takes testimony, if needed, and issues orders in 
conformity with the interests of all parties. 

(7.) The judge of the county court issues licenses for 
parties who desire to marry, authorizing them to be mar¬ 
ried inside of the county. The officer, or minister, who 
performs the marriage ceremony, must send to the court 
a certificate stating when and where he married the per¬ 
sons named. This certificate the judge keeps on file in 
his office. 

Constables and sheriffs are executive officers of the 
county court, as of a justice’s court. The jury consists of 
six voters, and is called only when demanded by one of 
the parties. 

The District Court has exclusive jurisdiction in 
the trial of civil and criminal cases, where the amount 
sued for is above the amount of one thousand dollars, and 
when the punishment for the crime is more than one hun- 


5 2 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


dred dollars fine and six months’ imprisonment, and in all 
cases where the title of land is in issue. This court has 
what is called “common law jurisdiction;” that is, the 
jurisdiction which the courts had in England under the 
“common law.” This extends to all subjects where the 
law does not forbid, both in civil matters and in criminal 
cases. 

This is called a court of record , because all the pro¬ 
ceedings are in writing, and the court has a clerk who 
makes a record of all that is done in the court, and who 
has an office in which he keeps all the papers. The sher¬ 
iff is the executive officer of this court; he serves notices, 
makes arrests, has charge of prisoners, takes and sells 
property, and obeys the lawful orders of the court. 

The county attorney appears as the attorney for the 
state in the prosecution for crimes, in the district courts, 
and in suits on bail bonds. He must also prosecute 
before justices of the peace, if he can attend to it. 

The judge of the district court appoints a reporter of 
ability and competency, who takes down, in short hand, 
all the testimony at trials in that court. These short hand 
notes must be preserved by him, and a transcript of them 
furnished to any one interested, upon request. 

In most cases, when parties who have suits before po¬ 
lice judges, justices of the peace, or the county court, do 
not like the decision of the court or the verdict of the 
jury, they may appeal to the district court. Here the 
case is tried over again, just as though it had never been 
tried. 

Supreme Court. When parties are not satisfied 
with the decision of the district court, they can appeal to 
the supreme court in some kinds of actions, or go “on 
error ” in other kinds of actions. When the suit is ap- 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


53 


pealed to the supreme court, it is tried over again. Cases 
in error are those where the party thinks the district court 
has made an error in its decision on a point of law. The 
party asks the supreme court to correct this error of the 
district court, and to send the case back to the district 
court for a new trial. 

Most of the business of the supreme court is the hearing 
of the suits that are taken up from the district courts. 
There are some classes of matters that can be taken to the 
supreme court, at first, and that do not have to go into 
the district courts, namely: 

(1.) Cases relating to the public revenue. 

(2.) All civil cases in which the state may be a party. 

(3.) Mandamus.—This is an application to the court 
for an order commanding an inferior court, or a public 
officer, to do something which that court or officer ought 
to do. “Mandamus” is a Latin word, and means “we 
command” the person to whom it is addressed. 

(4.) Quo Warranto.—This is an action to find out by 
what authority a person holds an office. It is brought 
when it is alleged that the person against whom it is 
brought has no right to the office which he tries to hold. 
The words are Latin, meaning “by what authority.” 

(5.) Habeas Corpus.—This is an action brought by a 
person who says that he is illegally deprived of his lib¬ 
erty and who asks the court to set him free. In olden 
times the order of the court to the sheriff, in such suits 
began, “habeas corpus,” “you will have the body” of 
the person named in this court, on a day named, in order 
that he may show the unlawfulness of his imprisonment. 
In those times the orders of the courts were in Latin. 

The decisions of the supreme court, and the reasons for 


54 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


the decisions, are always in writing, and are recorded by 
the clerk, and published by the reporter. 

The Court of Impeachment is not very often used. 
When any member of the supreme court is impeached, he 
is tried by a court composed of all the district judges of 
the state. When any other state officer is impeached, he 
is tried by the supreme court. 

To impeach is to accuse a person of misconduct, or bad 
conduct, in the discharge of his official duties. For 
crimes done by the officer, as an individual, he is tried in 
the criminal courts like other persons. 

What Courts are for. Courts are established for 
two purposes: 

Civil; to award money or other valuable thing to any 
person who has been damaged by the action of another, 
and to make orders in some cases prohibiting a person do¬ 
ing certain things that may injure another person, and to 
command that things which ought to be done shall be 
done. 

Criminal; to try persons charged with crime; to punish 
them if guilty and to set them free if innocent. 

In the civil department of the courts, when the violation 
of a law injures a person, such person may sue for com¬ 
pensation for such injury. If a personal right is violated, 
the person injured may sue for compensation. There is 
hardly an injury which one person may receive from an¬ 
other which may not be the subject of a civil action. 

If I am slandered, or beaten, if it has been of any pe¬ 
cuniary damage to me, I may sue for the amount of that 
damage. If a man encroaches upon my land and dam¬ 
ages it, I may sue him for that damage. If a man un¬ 
justly accuses me of a crime, or illegally and maliciously 
imprisons me, I may sue him for the damage it does me. 


POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 


55 


In most cases of malice or injustice, the law presumes 
that the action damages the person and he does not always 
have to prove actual damages in order to be entitled to a 
judgment. If a person owes me money which he neglects 
to pay, I may sue him for it. If, in selling me goods, or 
lands, which one warrants to be of a certain goodness, 
and they do not prove to be so good, then I may sue him 
for the difference between the actual value and the value 
they would have had if they had been as good as he war¬ 
ranted them to be. It would take a large book to con¬ 
tain a detailed list of all the causes of a civil action. 


QUESTIONS. 

From whom are judges usually selected, and by? What pow¬ 
ers reside in all judges? What is the jurisdiction of a police 
judge? A justice of the peace? A county judge? Over what 
subject matters has a county judge original and exclusive jurisdic¬ 
tion? What actions may a justice of the peace, and a court, not 
try? What is jurisdiction? Give the various kinds? What is the 
jurisdiction of the district court? What jurisdiction has the su¬ 
preme court, and how attained ? A court of impeachment? What 
are the two purposes for which courts are organized? 


# 






DIVISION III. 


ADMINISTRATION. 

CHAPTER I.—RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE. 

The constitution could not be adopted by the people ex¬ 
cept at an election. There could be no officers of the 
state, in any department, until after an election. For 
these reasons it is best for us to consider the subject of 
voters, before we present more than the bare frame-work 
of the government. 

Who are Voters? The voters are drawn from two 
classes of individuals: the citizens of the state and of the 
United States, whether they become citizens by. birth or 
by naturalization; and those who have declared their in¬ 
tention to become citizens, thirty days before the election 
at which they offer to vote. A person declares his inten¬ 
tion to become a citizen by taking out his first set of 
naturalization papers. The reason for confining the suf¬ 
frage to these two classes is easily understood. Those 
who expect to remain permanently under a government, 
must have a greater interest in having that government a 
good one, and in having it administered by good officers, 
than will those who expect to remain but a short time. 
Hence these provisions help toward securing a good 
government and good officers. In order that foreign-born 
persons may not be incited to take out their first papers 
just before an election, during the excitement of the can¬ 
vass, but may take them in the ordinary course of their 


(56) 



ADMINISTRATION. 57 

residence, it is provided that they must have bad their 
first papers thirty days before they can vote. 

An examination of the constitution and of the laws will 
show that many persons may belong to one of these two 
classes and may yet be denied the right and duty to vote. 
There are seven classes of minor qualifications which 
voters must possess. They are as follows: 

They must be male persons. The convention which 
framed the constitution discussed the subject of the ex¬ 
tension of suffrage to women, and many members were in 
favor of that extension. It was shown that the women, 
as a whole, had not shown that they desired to vote; and 
many doubted the policy of it, as so few women take any 
interest in political affairs. The legislature has extended 
to women the right to vote at school meetings, as will be 
seen by reference to the chapter on education. 

They must be twenty-one years of age. Before 
young men reach that age, they are generally forming 
their character, their habits, and their opinions. Many 
are fully competent at a much earlier age to vote, but a 
constitution cannot very well discriminate between indi¬ 
viduals of a class. Twenty-one has long been held, almost 
universally, to be about the age when young men become 
able to act as independent men. 

Residence in the state. They must have resided 
continuously in the state for six months previous to the 
election at which they offer to vote. This provision is 
for the purpose of enabling voters to become somewhat 
acquainted with the government of the state and with the 
candidates for whom they are to vote. A person is not 
competent to vote till he knows something of the men for 
whom, or against whom, he votes. 

Residence in the county. They must have resided 


58 


ADMINISTRATION. 


in the county in which they offer to vote, forty days be¬ 
fore voting. And this for the like reason that they are 
required to reside in the state six months. As the county 
is smaller than the state, an acquaintance with its inhabi¬ 
tants and candidates can be made in less time than can be 
made in the state. 

Residence in Precinct or Ward. This means a 
voting precinct, which is the extent of territory, all of 
whose voters vote at one place. In the country it usually 
embraces a whole precinct or township. Cities, as we 
have seen, are divided into wards, for purposes of 
government, and each ward is a voting precinct. In the 
larger cities the wards are divided into voting districts of 
convenient size and a voter must reside in such district 
seven days before offering to vote. In cities of the second 
class, a residence of ten days in the ward before voting is 
required. In villages and cities, those who vote at 
elections for village officers or city officers, must have 
resided in the corporation a period of three months in 
order to be legal voters. One object for these three 
provisions of residence is to show that the voters are 
settled there and thus have an interest in the election, 
and, also, so that political partisans cannot colonize 
voters,—that is, take them from precincts where they are 
not needed, and transfer them to precincts where their 
votes will give their party or friends a majority. 

Must be sane. A voter musi also be of sound mind, 
so that he may have the judgment, discretion and 
knowledge that shall enable him to vote intelligently. 
“Non compos mentis ” means “not sound of mind.” 

Not a felon. A person who has been convicted of 
treason, or other felony, either under the laws of Nebras¬ 
ka or ol the United States, cannot vote. This denial of the 


ADMINISTRATION. 


59 


suffrage is one of the punishments which the constitution 
inflicts upon felons. This is done on the theory that the 
privilege of suffrage is a valuable one, and that all persons 
greatly desire to exercise it. To take this privilege from 
criminals, it is thought, will exercise a restraining influ¬ 
ence upon those "who are inclined to commit crimes. 
Persons deprived of suffrage by felony, can have the 
privilege restored to them by a pardon. Another reason 
for this provision is that persons who will not obey the 
law have not the character that a lawmaker ought to 
possess. The idea is that persons of good character, only, 
should have the suffrage. 

What is Residence P In discussing elections and vot¬ 
ing, it is important to have a clear idea of the term “res¬ 
idence,” for w r e learn that only those who have a residence 
in a place can vote there. Generally, only those have a 
residence in a place w’ho make that their home, and who 
intend to remain there. But, sometimes, a married man 
has his place of business in one voting district and has his 
family in another. In this case, he must vote in the vot¬ 
ing district in which his family lives. 

A man may have a permanent residence, as a farm in 
the country, or a furnished house and lot in a village, 
while he goes to another place to live for a few r years, for 
some special business, intending to return after a wdiile to 
his permanent home. County officers are often required 
to live with their families at the county seat, while they 
have a house or farm in another part of the county to 
which they expect to return after their terms of office ex¬ 
pire. So with some state officers w*ho are obliged to live 
at the capital during their terms of office, expecting to re¬ 
turn to their permanent residences in other parts of the 
state w’hen relieved from office. They cannot vote at the 


6o 


ADMINISTRATION. 


place where they are holding the office, but they must 
vote at the place of their former residence. Residence, as 
we see, may be temporary or permanent. The voting 
precinct of a voter’s permanent residence is the place for 
him to vote. So it is provided that soldiers, sailors and 
marines, while in the service of the United States, though 
stationed within the state for a period of six months, are 
not to be allowed to vote. There residence here is for a 
temporary purpose, and is not voluntary on their part, 
either in coming or departing. 

The Militia. The constitution provides that electors 
in actual military service of the state or of the United 
States, and not in the regular army, may vote at such 
place and under such regulations as the law may provide. 
So far, the legislature has not provided any regulations 
under this section of the constitution. 

Registration. In metropolitan cities, and in cities 
of the first class, the names of all voters must be regis¬ 
tered ten days before the election at which they offer to 
vote. In large cities, where there is a large class of 
floating population, the election officers find great diffi¬ 
culty in knowing who are actual residents. Hence, the 
voters must prove their residence before a regularly ap¬ 
pointed officer, when there is no excitement or hurry. If 
a voter’s name is wrongfully omitted from the list, he 
may prove his residence at the time of voting. 

Protection to Voters. We have seen in section 
twenty-two, of the Bill of Rights, that no one is allowed 
to put any impediment or hindrance in the way of a free 
exercise of the privilege of voting. Section five of Arti¬ 
cle VII. details more specifically how the voter shall be 
protected. For the crime of treason or other felony, 
and for a breach of the peace, the voter may be arrested 


ADMINISTRATION. 


61 


at any time of election day, and wherever he may be 
found, as these crimes menace the foundations of civil 
government. For any other crime he shall be privileged 
from arrest, on election day, not only while he is in actual 
attendance at the voting place, but also while he is going to 
it, or returning from it. This provision is to prevent any 
annoyance of a voter by partisans, for light offenses. The 
state considers that voting is not only a privilege but a duty. 
This protective feature of the law offers an inducement to 
voters to vote. For the same reason, no voter can be 
compelled to do military duty on election day, except in 
time of war and public danger. The Romans had a say¬ 
ing that “the public safety is the supreme law.” In the 
spirit of this saying, every elector must help save the 
public, before he can vote. His right to vote depends 
upon the solidity and permanence of the state. If that 
fails, his elective franchise is worthless. All votes given 
at the regular state elections must be by ballot. This 
protects the voter, in that it enables him to vote his sen¬ 
timents freely and in such a way that those who may want 
to influence him into voting against his convictions may 
not know how he votes. The method of voting is more 
fully described in the next chapter. 

Illegal Voting. The law justly imposes a punish¬ 
ment upon any one who shall vote before he has the qual¬ 
ifications of a voter, or votes at a place where he has no 
right to vote. The punishment is from one year to five 
years in the penitentiary. It also punishes with fine or 
imprisonment any one who procures or aids illegal voting. 

Bribery. Any one who bribes a voter, or attempts 
to bribe him, to influence his vote, is also punished by fine 
or imprisonment, or both, and by depriving him of the 
elective franchise till pardoned. 


62 


ADM INISTRATION. 


Challenges. A person who offers to vote at any 
election may have his right to vote challenged by any 
voter of that voting precinct. The challenge may be for 
any cause that disqualifies the person offering to vote. A 
person who is thus challenged cannot vote unless he sat¬ 
isfies the judges of election by his own oath, or otherwise, 
that he is entitled to the right. 


QUESTIONS. 

From what classes of citizens are voters drawn? Why are they 
confined to these two classes? ^ How many and what exceptions? 
Why should residence be a qualification? What other exceptions 
would you add? Why? What is residence? Why must voters 
be registered in large cities? What protection has voters? How 
are votes given, and why so given? What is the punishment for 
illegal voting; for bribing a voter ? May voters be challenged, 
and why ? 


CHAPTER II.—ELECTIONS. 

At least twenty days before any election in which the 
voters of the whole county are to take part, the county 
clerk makes out a notice thereof, three copies of which 
are required to be prominently posted up in each voting 
precinct. The notice states the day of election, the offices 
to be filled and the place in the precinct where the voting 
will be done. 

Opening The Polls. The polls are required to be 
open at eight o’clock in the morning, and to remain open 
until six o’clock in the evening. If any of the judges or 
clerks of election, duly elected, do not appear at the polls 
by eight o’clock in the morning, the voters who are 
already assembled may fill the vacant place by a viva voce 
election. 




ADMINISTRATION. 


63 


Upon opening the polls one of the judges must make 
proclamation of the fact, in a loud voice, and it would 
seem that no ballot can be legally received until such 
proclamation is made. 

Ballot Box. Before any vote can be received the 
judges must make public exposure of the open ballot box, 
in order that the voters may know that no ballots have 
been illegally placed in it before the opening of the polls. 
The ballot box is then locked and the key is kept by one 
of the judges. The box cannot be opened under any 
pretext, until the close of the polls. The ballot box can¬ 
not be legally removed from the view of the voters, at 
any time, until all the votes are cpunted and canvassed. 
This is to prevent any suspicion of illegal treatment of 
the ballot box, and also to diminish the opportunities for 
illegal treatment of it. 

Manner of Voting. At elections in which the 
voters of the whole county take part, the county clerk 
prints the ballots at the expense of the county. The bal¬ 
lot must contain the names of all the candidates for all 
the offices to be filled at that election. These ballots are 
printed upon white paper and are kept by the judges of 
election. When a voter desires to vote, he enters the en¬ 
closure within which the judges and clerks sit, and the 
judges furnish to him a ballot, on the back of which two 
judges must have written their names. The voter then 
goes into one of the booths provided for the purpose. 
Opposite to the name of each person for whom he wishes 
to vote, the voter places a cross (X) with pen or pencil. 
He then folds the ballot in such a way that the names of 
the candidates will be concealed, and delivers it to one of 
the judges, stating his name at the same time. Upon re¬ 
ceiving the ballot the judge repeats the name of the voter 


6 4 


ADMINISTRATION. 


in a loud voice. If no one challenges the voter, and if 
the judges are satisfied that he is a legal voter, the two 
clerks will record his name in books provided for that 
purpose, and the judge will deposit the ballot in the bal¬ 
lot box. When a voter is unable to read the ballot, or is 
unable to make the cross required, he may so state to the 
judges under oath, and then one of the judges is required 
to go with him into the booth, and to help him make out 
his ballot. No person is allowed to go inside of a booth 
with a voter while he is preparing his ballot, unless when 
a judge goes in to help him, as above stated. 

In Cities, where the registry law is operative, the 
judges must also ascertain that the name of the person 
offering to vote is on the registry list. If not so on that 
list, the ballot cannot be received unless the person can 
show that he is a legal voter, and he must also give a 
satisfactory reason for his failure to register as a voter. 

Challenge. If a person who offers to vote is chal¬ 
lenged, he must prove, to the satisfaction of the judges, 
that he is entitled to vote, before his ballot can be re¬ 
ceived. 

Closing. At least thirty minutes before the hour set 
for closing the polls, one of the judges must make procla¬ 
mation of that fact, in the same manner that the opening 
of the polls was announced. 

Canvass. As soon as the polls are closed, the judges 
and clerks proceed to count the ballots and to ascertain 
the result. The canvass must be public, so that the vot¬ 
ers may see if everything is done fairly and honestly. 
These lists kept by the clerks, are compared and errors cor¬ 
rected, the number set down, and the judges and clerks 
then sign the poll books. 

Counting. The ballot box is then opened, the ballots 


ADMINISTRATION 


65 


counted and compared with the names on the poll books. 
If more ballots were cast than there are names of voters 
recorded, the ballots are shaken up and as many ballots 
drawn out as the number of ballots exceeds the number 
of names recorded. The judges and clerks then proceed 
to count the number of ballots cast for each office and to 
record the result in the poll books. 

Sealing the Ballots. When all the ballots are 
counted and the result recorded, the judges seal up the 
ballots in one package, and one of the poll books in 
another package. The two packages are then sent to the 
county clerk by one of the judges or clerks. The other 
poll book, in counties under township organization, is de¬ 
posited in the office of the township clerk; in counties not 
under township organization, it is kept by one of the 
judges of the election. 

County Canvass. Within six days after the election, 
the county clerk calls to his aid two other electors of the 
county and the three proceed to canvass the vote of the 
county. They make an abstract of the votes cast for each 
office, as shown by the returns of the judges and clerks of 
election in.the several precincts. The abstract is signed 
by the three canvassers. 

State Canvass. An abstract of the votes cast in 
each county for state officers, members of congress, and 
as the choice of the voters for United States senator, is 
made by the county canvassers, and sent by the county 
clerk to the secretary of state, addressed to the speaker of 
the house of representatives, and the canvass of the votes 
for those officers is made by the legislature at once upon 
its organization. A like abstract of the votes cast for 
presidential electors, for judges of the supreme court and 
of the district court, and for regents of the state univer- 

5 


66 


ADMINISTRATION. 


sity, are sent to the secretary of state, and the votes are 
canvassed by the state board of canvassers, consisting of 
the governor, secretary of state, auditor of public accounts, 
treasurer and attorney general. The canvass is made on 
the third Monday after election, or as soon after that 
date as the returns are received by the board of 
canvassers. 

Contest. Any elector may contest the announced 
result of any election for any of the following reasons: 

1. Malconduct, fraud or corruption on the part of 
any officer who receives or canvasses the votes. 

2. When the successful person was ineligible at the 
time of the election. This includes, having been convicted 
of a felony, and being in default as a collector of public 
funds. 

3. When the successful person has been guilty of 
bribery in the election. 

4. When illegal votes were received and counted for 
the successful person enough to change the result. 

5. Any error in the canvass that would change the 
result. 

6. Any other cause that shows that any other person 
than the successful one was elected. 

The contests are heard in the courts; a detail of the 
process and proceedings would not be of value here. 

QUESTIONS. 

What is required as to the notice ? What formalities in open¬ 
ing the polls ? State the manner of voting. Why must the voter 
make out his ticket in secret? What formality in closing the 
polls? How are the votes canvassed and counted? Wh^t is done 
with the ballots and books after the canvass? How is the county 
canvass conducted? How the canvass for state officers? When 
may the result of an election be contested? What changes would 
you like to have made in the election laws? 



ADMINISTRATION. 


67 


CHAPTER III.—REVENUE. 

For What Purpose. Government cannot be ad¬ 
ministered without money. Men will not work for the 
public without pay any more than they will for a private 
person. Besides, as we have seen, governments have a 
duty in providing places for criminals, so that they can¬ 
not escape and commit more crimes. The sick, insane, 
blind, deaf and dumb, and others, who, for whatever 
reason, are unable to provide their own means of living, 
must be cared for by the public or government. To do 
this, buildings have to be erected, provisions, furniture, 
fuel, etc., purchased. Houses and furniture, fuel, books, 
stationery, and other necessities have to be provided for 
government offices. All this requires money. 

From Whom Raised. Experience and theory show 
that the easiest and most just way to obtain this money 
is to make each person pay his share of it. This share is 
determined by first ascertaining the person’s ability to 
pay. As a large share of the benefit of the government 
is in the protection of property, in affording men the 
means to obtain and preserve it, it is considered right 
that property should pay most of the expenses of the 
government. Those who own the most property should, 
therefore, pay the largest amount of the money. 

What Exempt. 1 . It would be a waste of time and 
an expense for the government to assess and tax its 'own 
property. That would be like taking money from one 
pocket and putting it into the other. Hence, all property 
belonging to the government in any of its departments 
is exempt from taxation. This includes school houses 
and other school property, property of townships, coun¬ 
ties and the state. All is used for purposes of govern¬ 
ment. 


68 


ADMINISTRATION. 


2. There is certain other property that is used in a 
sort of governmental way, at least for such purposes as 
aid the government in the administration of the laws. 
Property used by agricultural and horticultural societies 
is not used for profit by private persons, but by societies 
for public purposes, and is not taxable. 

3. Colleges and schools under the control of private 
persons or of church organizations are deemed to be so 
useful to the state in the education of its citizens, and in 
increasing intelligence, good morals and right conduct, 
that property used wholly for such educational purposes 
does not pay taxes. 

4. Churches and religious organizations are also 
deemed valuable aids to government in the formation of 
good character, and the property of such organizations 
does not pay taxes. 

5. Land devoted wholly to the burial of the dead does 
not pay taxes. The graves of our dead friends are always 
sacred, and the public conscience shrinks from the ap¬ 
parent sacrilege of compelling us to pay taxes upon them. 

6. All property devoted to charitable purposes, such 
as hospitals, homes for the aged, infirm, &c., even if 
owned and controlled by private persons, is exempt from 
taxation. The reason for this exemption is found in the 
fact that these charitable institutions are really doing the 
work of the government. For, if private enterprise and 
generosity did not build and maintain these institutions, 
the state government would be compelled to do so. 
These hospitals, homes, &c., are, therefore, in one sense 
of the word, government property and are doing the 
work of the government, and so ought not to pay taxes. 

The Assessment. Before the second Tuesday of 
March of each year, the county clerk must prepare a book 


ADMINISTRATION. 


69 

for each assessor, containing a list of all the lands and 
lots in the assessor’s district, and also blanks for the list¬ 
ing of personal property. 

Between the first day of April and the first day of June, 
the assessor must call upon each owner of property in his 
district, and obtain from him a list of all his taxable per¬ 
sonal property, and of the amount of money he has in 
any place, whether at interest or not. The assessor puts 
a valuation upon all of this property and enters the same 
upon his blanks. If the owner refuses to give a list, the 
assessor may take testimony and may make such a list as 
he thinks is just. The assessor also puts a valuation 
upon all the lands and lots in his district. 

(“ District” means the territory in which the assessor 
acts.) 

Railroads and Telegraph Lines. These companies 
have their lines of business running through many coun¬ 
ties, and have their property unequally distributed 
along the lines. As all the property contributes about 
equally to the operation of the lines, it should pay taxes 
equally in all the counties, townships and precincts 
through which it passes. In order to a fair and just 
assessment, the governor, auditor and treasurer form a 
state board of assessors. The proper officers of railroad 
companies and telegraph companies are required to report 
to the state auditor, on or before April 1 of each year, 
all the information that may be required, in order that 
the state board may be able to fix the valuation of the 
property of the companies. This board must make the 
valuation of the lines on or before May 15, and the audi¬ 
tor reports to the clerk of each county the assessed valua¬ 
tion per mile and the number of miles .in his county. 

Review of Township. In counties under town- 


7 o 


ADMINISTRATION. 


ship organization, the town board of each township meets 
on the first Monday of June to review the assessment of 
the town. Any person who thinks that his property is 
assessed too high, or that some other property is assess¬ 
ed too low, may apply to that board to have the assess¬ 
ment corrected, and the board may make such correction 
of the list as shall appear to be just. The assessment of 
no person can be increased without notice to him. Any 
person who is not satisfied with the decision of the 
township board, may appeal to the county board. 

Return of the Assessor. On or before the second 
Monday in June, the assessor must return his assessment 
list to the county clerk, and must make affidavit to the cor¬ 
rectness of the return. The county clerk examines the 
assessment list as returned, and, if he discovers any er¬ 
rors, he may correct them. 

County Review. The county board meets on the 
first Tuesday after the second Monday in June, as aboard 
of equalization. In counties not under township organi¬ 
zation, it has the general powers of the township board, 
as stated above. It also examines the assessments of the 
several precincts. If the assessment of one precinct is 
below the average or below what it should be, it may be 
•raised; if too high, it may be lowered, as a whole, or in 
detail. In counties under township organization, the 
county board hears and settles appeals from the town- 
board, and equalizes the assessments of the several town¬ 
ships and cities. On or before the 10th of July, the 
county clerks report to the state auditor an abstract of 
personal and real property of the county with its valua¬ 
tion. 

The Levy. On the last day of the session of the. 


ADMINISTRATION 


71 


county board, the board determines the amount of money 
that will be needed during the next year for the expenses 
of the county. The board then makes a levy of taxes 
for the next year, including the taxes for the county, 
townships, precincts, school districts and road districts. 
The village boards and city councils levy the amount of 
taxes needed in those corporations for the next year. The 
city council's also make the levy of taxes for the school 
districts in which they may be situated. These levies by 
village boards and by city councils are reported to the 
county clerk so as to be entered upon the books by which 
the treasurer makes collection ot taxes. At the meeting 
of the state board of equalization on the third Monday 
of July, that board makes the levy for all state purposes. 

Tax List. As soon as the assessments are equalized 
and taxes levied, the county clerk at once makes out the 
tax lists. In counties under township organization, the 
list is for each township or city, and is ready for the city 
treasurer or town treasurer on or before the first day of 
October following. In counties not under township or¬ 
ganization, the list is for the whole county, and is ready 
for the county treasurer on or before October 1, following. 
The tax list contains a list of all the real estate with the 
name of the owner, if known; the number of acres and 
value, value of personal property, the school district and 
road district in which it lies, the total amount of state 
and county taxes, road tax, school tax, precinct tax, 
township tax and poll tax. 

How Taxes are Collected. In counties not un¬ 
der township organization, no demand for taxes is neces¬ 
sary. It is made the duty of each taxpayer to attend at 
the county seat and pay to the county treasurer. In 


72 


ADMINISTRATION. 


counties under township organization, the town treasurer 
is required to call once on each tax-payer, if necessary, 
and demand payment of the taxes. 

When Payable. Taxes can be paid on or after 
November 1, of the year in which they are levied. 

Penalty. If the personalty tax is not paid on or be¬ 
fore February 1, or the real estate tax by May 1, follow¬ 
ing the levy, the taxes draw interest at the rate of 10 per 
cent. 

Delinquent. When personalty taxes are not paid by 
February 1, the treasurer may sieze personal property, 
advertise and sell it for the taxes and the costs of seizure 
and sale. If realty taxes are not paid by November 1, 
of the year next after the levy, the county treasurer will 
offer the land for sale for the taxes. The person who 
offers to pay the taxes on a tract of land, or lot, for the 
smallest part of the same, may purchase it. The owner 
has two years in which to redeem by paying the taxes, 
penalty and interest, and costs of sale. If the land is not 
redeemed, the treasurer must give to the purchaser a deed 
on demand, after the end of the two years. 

Tax Deed. Before a purchaser can obtain the deed, 
he must give notice that he will apply for a deed, to any 
one living on the land, and also to the person in whose 
name the land was assessed. If no one is living on the 
land, and if the one in whose name it was assessed can¬ 
not be found in the state, the notice must be printed 
three times in the county newspaper. 

Reports. The town treasurer reports to the county 
treasurer every thirty days and pays over to that officer 
all money belonging to the county and state, school 
district and road district. The county treasurer must 
report to the state auditor, and pay into the state treasury, 


ADMINISTRATION. 


73 


all state funds on the first of November of each year, and 
at such other times as he may be requested. The county 
treasurer also pays over to the several school districts and 
villages, such money as he may collect for them, when¬ 
ever required. The railroad companies and telegraph 
companies pay their taxes to the county treasurer, and 
that officer distributes to each township, school district, 
city, and village, its share of that tax. 

Taxing Peddlers. In addition to the taxes already 
described, the law levies a tax of thirty dollars a year 
upon each peddler of watches, clocks, jewelry and patent 
medicines, and other wares and merchandise. This 
money may be paid to any county treasurer, and the coun¬ 
ty clerk in which the money is paid issues the license. 
This license is good in any part of the state. 

Taxes in Cities. The city council of each city, by 
ordinance, may levy a license-tax upon any occupation or 
business within the city. To prevent injustice, it is 
required that all such license taxes shall be uniform as to 
the classes upon which they are imposed. In order to 
encourage literary and scientific education, it is also pro¬ 
vided that lectures and entertainments of a literary or 
scientific character shall be exempt from such taxes. It 
is not often that cities levy these license taxes to the ex¬ 
tent allowed by law. Usually they are imposed upon 
only hacks, carriages used for trip passengers, drays, 
auctioneers, concerts, theatrical troupes, circuses, billiard 
tables, bowling alleys, saloons, and other occupations of 
an irregular, or not strictly legitimate business. The 
money received from this source goes into the fund of the 
school district in which the city is situated. 

Paying Out Money. After the money enters the 
treasury it can be taken out only in the way provided by 


74 


ADMINISTRATION. 


law. In townships the treasurer pays it out on the order 
of the township board, signed by the township clerk; in 
cities the treasurer pays it out on the order of the city 
council, signed by the mayor and the city clerk; in school 
districts, it is paid out on the order of the district board, 
signed by the presiding officer and clerk, or director. The 
county treasurer pays it out on the order of the county 
board, signed by the chairman of the board and the 
county clerk; the state treasurer pays it out on the war¬ 
rant of the auditor who can give orders only in pursuance 
of the law, and for claims that the law authorizes. 


QUESTIONS: 

Why is revenue needed? From whom is it raised? 'What prop¬ 
erty does not pay taxes, and why? How, and when is the assess¬ 
ment made? How is railroad and telegraph property assessed? 
How and by whom is the assessment of property reviewed? Why 
is a review needed? When are taxes levied, and by whom? What 
is the tax-list? How are taxes collected? When do taxes become 
delinquent, and what is the penalty? To whom and wdien do tax 
collectors report? What about the taxation of peddlers?—about 
an occupation tax? How is public money drawn from the public 
treasury? 


CHAPTER IV.—EDUCATION. 

The Reason. As a rule, education improves the 
voter and the citizen. An ignorant person can hardly 
understand the significance or the effect of his vote, 
neither can he fully see the necessity of good conduct in 
the citizen. It is showm by experience that, by the edu¬ 
cation of the morals and of the intellect of the citizen, the 
expenses of the government are greatly reduced, and the 
security of the persons and property of the other citizens 
is greatly increased. As the main object of government 




ADMINISTRATION. 


75 


is to repress disorder and crime, and to add to the securi¬ 
ty of the persons and property of all the citizens, we can 
thus see that the expense of educating the voter and the 
citizen is really saved in the reduced expense of suppress¬ 
ing crime. This seems to be the real principle on which 
the government acts in finding any authority to tax the 
citizens for the education of the children. 

School Districts. Each county is divided into as 
many school districts as the people w r ant, subject to the 
limitations of law as stated on page 10. The territory 
included in a city is also a school district. In the coun¬ 
try districts, and in the high school districts, the annual 
meeting is held on the last Monday in June, at the school 
house. Notices of this meeting are posted up in three 
public places in the district, at least fifteen days before 
the meeting. 

The Qualifications of a Voter at a school meeting 
and for school officers, differ from those of voters at 
political elections. At a school election, every person, 
male or female, twenty-one years of age, w T ho has resided 
in the district forty days, and who, in addition, either 
owns real property in the district, or who owns personal 
property in the district that has been assesed in his or her 
name, or w r ho has children of school age residing in the 
district, may vote as in ordinary elections. 

Power of School Meetings. At the annual school 
meeting, the voters present may select a site for a school 
house, by a two-thirds vote, and may change the same by 
a like vote; direct that a site be purchased or leased; 
direct that a school building be hired, purchased or 
erected; determine the amount to be expended for the 
coming year; determine the number of mills on the dollar 
to be levied for the year, for ordinary expenses and the 


76 ADMINISTRATION. 

number of mills to be levied for a school building, or site, 
or both; determine the length of time the schools shall 
be taught during the year; direct the sale of any school 
property that is no longer needed; give directions in 
regard to law suits; elect the officers of the district. 

Duties of the Officers. In the country districts 
the board is expected to obey the instructions of the 
school meeting, hire and pay the teachers, furnish the 
fuel, and have the care of the buildings and grounds. 
The board has very little authority aside from following 
the instructions of the annual meeting. In high school 
districts, the board grades and classifies the pupils, divides 
the school into departments, employs teachers, prescribes 
courses of study and text-books, and enacts proper rules 
and regulations for the schools. In the districts compris¬ 
ing cities, the board has almost full control of the schools 
and of the business of the district, but they cannot issue 
bonds without a vote of the people. The board grades 
and classifies the pupils, and divides the schools into de¬ 
partments as the interests of the schools demand. 

Teachers. No person can be employed as a teacher 
in any public school of the state, who has not received a 
certificate from some competent authority, stating that 
he has the legal qualifications for teaching. These cer¬ 
tificates may be issued by the county superintendent or 
by the state superintendent. In city districts, the board 
may appoint a committee for the examination of teachers, 
and the certificate issued by this committee will entitle a 
person to the right to teach in that district. A diploma 
of graduation from the state normal school has the effect 
of a certificate from any other authority. 

Teachers’ Certificates. There are three grades of 
county certificates, and a state certificate, which really 


ADMINISTRATION. 


77 


make four grades of certificates. For a third grade 
county certificate, the applicant must pass a satisfactory 
examination in arithmetic, English composition, English 
grammar, geography, physiology, reading, spelling and 
writing. A certificate of this grade is good for six 
months from its date, and can be used only in the district 
specially named in it. No person can receive more than 
three certificates of this grade. 

In addition to the branches required for a third grade 
certificate, an applicant for a second grade certificate 
must pass'a satisfactory examination also in black-board 
drawing, book-keeping, civil government, history of the 
United States, and in the theory and practice of teaching. 
This certificate is good for one year. 

For a first grade certificate a person must pass a 
satisfactory examination in all the branches required for 
a second grade certificate, and also in algebra, botany, 
geometry, and physics. A certificate of this grade is 
good for two years. 

These three grades of certificates are granted by the 
county superintendent, and can be used only within the 
county of the superintendent granting them. They may 
be recalled and cancelled by the superintendent for any 
good cause. 

State Certificate. The state superintendent may 
grant certificates to permanent teachers of high character, 
broad scholarship and successful experience. For this 
purpose he may personally examine the applicant or he 
may appoint a committee to make the examination. This 
certificate will entitle the holder to teach in any public 
school of the state, and may run during the life of the 
holder. To entitle one to this certificate, the applicant 
must pass a satisfactory examination in the following 


78 


ADMINISTRATION. 


branches, in addition to those required for a county first 
grade certificate: chemistry, English literature, general 
history, geology, intellectual philosophy, plane trigonom¬ 
etry, rhetoric and zoology. 

City Certificates. Certificates issued by the com¬ 
mittee of the board, in city districts, need not be of any 
particular grade, but should cover all the studies that the 
holder ought to understand in order to teach in the de¬ 
partment for which she may be selected. 

No Pay. The law forbids the payment of any public 
money to any teacher who does not have a certificate of 
one of the classes named above. 

The County Superintendent has a general over¬ 
sight of the schools and teachers of the county. He ex¬ 
amines all applicants for teachers’ certificates, and grants 
certificates of the grades to which the examination shows 
them to be entitled. He keeps a record of all the cer¬ 
tificates granted and revoked. He must visit each school 
in the county at least once in each year, examine carefully 
into the discipline and mode of instruction, and the 
progress and proficiency of the pupils, make a record of 
his observations, counsel with the district boards in 
regard to the best interests of the schools, and organize 
teachers’ institutes and public ‘lectures for the improve¬ 
ment of the schools and of the teachers. He also exam¬ 
ines the reports of district boards, and secures their cor¬ 
rectness. 

The State Superintendent has charge of the 
public schools of the state, visits such schools as his time 
may permit, organizes district institutes, decides disputed 
points of school law, prescribes forms for all school 
reports and makes an annual report to the Governor of 


ADMINISTRATION. 79 

# 

the operations of liis office for the past year, and of tlie 
condition of the schools and school fund of the state. 

There are two classes of institutes provided by law, — 
county and district. 

A County Institute is held in each county, and is or¬ 
ganized under the direction and control of the county 
superintendent. All the teachers of the county are ex¬ 
pected to attend an institute once a year, and a failure to 
so attend may be good cause for withholding or revoking 
a certificate. The superintendent provides a conductor, 
or conducts it himself, and provides such instructors as 
shall be needed. Instruction is given in the theory and 
art of teaching, and in such branches as are most needed 
by the teachers, and of most importance to them and to 
the schools. To defray the expenses of these county in¬ 
stitutes, a fund is provided by law. Each teacher who 
applies for a certificate pays one dollar to the superintend¬ 
ent as an institute fund. To the sum thus raised the 
county board is directed to add #25 a year; and it may 
annually add #100, at its discretion. 

District Institute. The state superintendent divides 
the state into such districts, as he may deem best, and 
appoints a term of the institute for a place in that district, 
designating the length of the term, of not less than one 
week, and providing competent instructors. It is the 
duty of all the county superintendents in the district, and 
of such teachers of the district as desire, to attend the in¬ 
stitute. It is conducted as county institutes are. The 
institute fund of the county wherein the institute is held 
defrays the expenses of the district institute. 

Compulsory Attendance. The law commands 
parents and gurdians to send their children, between the 
ages of eight and fourteen years, to school not less than 


8 o 


ADMINISTRATION. 


twelve weeks each year. They may be excused from 
doing so, if they can show to the school-board that the 
labor of the children is needed for the support of the 
family, that they have been prevented by illness, or that 
the children are already as proficient in their studies as 
children of their ages reasonably ought to be. For a 
failure to obey the command, a fine not less than ten dol¬ 
lars, nor more than fifty dollars, may be imposed. It is 
considered that the law has had some good moral effect, 
although the incompleteness of the law is so serious as to 
render its strict enforcement a matter of grave doubt. 

Children in Shops. The law forbids the employ¬ 
ment of children under the age of twelve years, in rail¬ 
road shops, factories, shops or mines more than four 
months in any one year. In case of such employment 
beyond the time allowed, both the employer and the par¬ 
ent or guardian consenting to the employment, may be 
fined not less than ten dollars nor more than fifty dollars. 

Free Text Books. The general property of the 
district and of the state now furnishes all the appliances 
for educating the children. By a late law, the school 
boards are directed to purchase the text books, slates, 
pencils, paper, and all other articles needed in the school 
room. Education has now become about as free to chil¬ 
dren as it is possible to be made. 

School Funds. The money needed to pay the 
expenses of the schools comes from three sources: Direct 
taxation; income from permanent school fund; income 
from licenses, fines, etc. 

Each district may levy a tax of any amount, not to 
exceed 25 mills (2^ cents) on each dollar of valuation of 
property in the district, for the expenses of the schools. 


ADM INIS TRATION 


81 


Ten mills of this amount may be used for the erection, 
purchase or hire of a school house. 

Temporary School Fund. The state levies a tax 
upon all the property in the state, not to exceed 1^ mills 
on the dollar valuation, for the support of the schools. 
This is divided, semi-annually, to each county in the state, 
in proportion to the number of pupils in the counties. 
This money must be applied wholly to the payment of the 
wages of teachers. The money that comes to each county 
is divided by the county superintendent as follows: One 
fourth of the amount is distributed, in equal shares, to 
the several school districts of the county; the remaining 
three fourths is distributed to the districts in proportion 
to the number of scholars in the district. In addition to 
the money so raised by taxation, all fines and penalties paid 
by persons convicted of crimes, all money received for 
licenses granted to peddlers, saloons, druggists, drays, 
circuses, auctioneers, tfcc., is paid into the school fund of 
the county or district. The money raised by the state by 
taxation, and that received from fines, penalties, and 
licenses, constitute the temporary school fund, and is 
distributed twice a year. 

The Permanent School Fund is derived from 
four different sources: 1. Upon the organization of the 
state, the United States granted to it, in aid of the com¬ 
mon schools, two sections, numbers sixteen and thirty-six, 
in each township. 2. The United States also granted to 
the state five per cent, upon the sales of all public lands 
in the state. 3. When a person, who owns real estate, 
dies without heirs, his property reverts to the state and is 
placed into the school fund. 4. When the present con¬ 
stitution was adopted, the state had a small sohool fund, 
and it was continued as a part of the permanent fund. 

6 


82 


ADMINISTRATION. 


The money derived from the permanent school fund, 
either as rentals from the lands, or as interest from the 
invested money, is set over into the temporary fund arid 
distributed according to law, in the manner already 
shown. The constitution provides that the permanent 
fund shall be inviolable and that the state shall make 
good all losses that may occur. 

No school shall be entitled to any part of the school 
fund of the state unless it shall have maintained a school 
the previous year, as follows: districts with less than 
thirty-five pupils, not less than three months; districts 
having pupils in number between thirty-five and one 
hundred, not less than six months; and districts whose 
pupils exceed one hundred, nine months. 

THE STATE UNIVERSITY. 

Government. The general government of the state 
university is vested in a board of six regents. Two are 
elected every two years and serve six years. The board 
elects its own presiding officer and clerk. 

Powers. The board of regents determines the grades 
and studies, audits and allows all accounts, elects and 
fixes salaries of all professors and instructors and gov¬ 
erns the institution, subject only to the legislature and 
the constitution. 

Organization. The university is authorized to em¬ 
brace five departments: 

1. A college of literature, science and art. 

2. An industrial college, embracing agriculture, prac¬ 
tical science, civil engineering, and the mechanic arts. 

3. A college of law. 

4. A college of medicine. 

5. A college of fine arts. 


ADMINISTRATION. 


83 


The first and second departments were opened for 
students at the beginning. The college of medicine was 
opened in October, 1883, and discontinued at the close of 
the academic year, 1887, as the legislature failed to ap¬ 
propriate funds for its support. The college of law was 
opened September, 1891. 

In addition to these colleges, the university conducts a 
preparatory department, covering the last two years of the 
work of a high school. This department is confessedly 
outside of the proper authority of the university. Yet it 
seems to be called for by the many who desire to attend 
the university, and who do not reside within the jurisdic¬ 
tion of any high school. It prepares students for the 
Freshman class of the university. 

Faculty. ^ Each college has a corps of teachers, or 
professors, called a faculty. These teachers are assigned 
to such branches of study as the board of regents deem 
best, and are paid such salary as may be fixed by the 
board. 

Chancellor. Over all these faculties is the chancel¬ 
lor, who is called the chief educator of the university, 
lie is the executive officer of the board of regents. lie 
directs in all the operations and work of education in all 
the colleges. The board acts very largely in accordance 
to his recommendations and reports. lie is elected by the 
board of regents, and serves during its pleasure. 

Funds. Upon the organization of the state, the United 
States donated to the state seventy-two sections of land 
for the use and support of the state university. In 1862, 
the United States made a grant of 90,000 acres of land to 
each state for the endowment and support of a college for 
the benefit of agriculture. These two donations embraced 
about 136,000 acres, and is the permanent fund for the 


8.4 


ADMINISTRATION. 


maintenance of the state university. The rentals of the 
lands, and the interest on the proceeds of sale, may be 
used for current expenses. 

THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. 

Government. The normal school is governed by a 
board of education, consisting of the state superintendent, 
state treasurer and five other persons who are appointed 
by the governor, one each year, and who serve five years. 

Power. This board has full control of the manage¬ 
ment and government of the school, selects its principal 
and other teachers, fixes their salaries and assigns their 
duties. 

Funds. In 1869, the legislature set apart twenty 
sections of land for the support of the normal school, and 
the proceeds of sale were to be a permanent fund. This 
fund is insufficient for the support of the school, and the 
legislature makes an annual appropriation for its main¬ 
tenance. 

Object and Scope. This school instructs in those 
branches which teachers of the state are required to under¬ 
stand in order to obtain state certificates. Latin has been 
taught whenever a class specially desired it. The stu¬ 
dents are trained also in the art and theory of teaching. 
The object is to train teachers. Those who graduate in 
the lowest course receive a certificate that entitles them 
to teach two years, and those who graduate in the higher 
course receive a certificate good for three years, anywhere 
in the state. Any graduate from the higher course who. 
shall have taught within the state two years with satis¬ 
faction is entitled to a diploma good during life. 

PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS. 

The system of education which has been described 


ADMINISTRATION. 


35 


above has its foundation in public law, and its support in 
public approval and public funds. It was organized by 
the legislature and is supported by the public treasury. 
But there are other schools and colleges which are or¬ 
ganized by private or denominational agencies and are 
supported by tuition or by endowment funds. Although 
they are not a part of the school system of the state, they 
are nevertheless carrying on a good work in education. 
There are eleven such institutions of education which now 
rank, or which have laid the foundations for soon rank¬ 
ing, among the list of good colleges, and they are all con¬ 
trolled and supported by associations of churches. 

Colleges. Union College at Lincoln, is controlled by 
the Adventists; the college at Grand Island, about ready to 
begin work, is supported by the Baptists; the college at 
Fairfield, and Cotner University, at Lincoln, are support¬ 
ed by Christians; Doane, at Crete, and Gates, at Neligh, 
are fostered by the Congfegationalists; the Wesleyan 
University, at Lincoln, by the Methodist Episcopals; 
Bellevue College at Bellevue, now a part of the Omaha 
University, and Hastings College, at Hastings, by the 
Presbyterians; Creighton College, at Omaha, by the 
Roman Catholics; a college at York, by the LTiited 
Brethren. 

Academies. Of the schools, academies and seminaries, 
not included in the state system of education, most are 
feeders for the denominational colleges, and a few are 
conducted by private enterprise and funds. The fol¬ 
lowing list is not considered complete, as several of the 
reported schools failed to respond to inquiries for data. 
The list includes: Academy of the Sacred Heart, Oma¬ 
ha; Blake School, Beatrice; Brownell Hall, Omaha; 
Central Nebraska Conference Seminary, Central City; 


86 


ADMINISTRATION. 


Douglas Seminary, Douglas; Franklin Academy, Frank¬ 
lin; Hiawatha Academy, Hiawatha; Orleans College, 
Orleans; Pawnee City Academy, Pawnee City; St. Fran¬ 
cis Parochial School, Falls City; Trinity Hall, Lincoln; 
Weeping Water Academy, Weeping Water. All these 
embrace the studies of the high school grade in their 
curricula, and are fitting students for college. 

Normals.— There are also four private normal schools 
in the state, supplying in good degree a need of which 
the state legislature seems not to take heed. These, like 
the state normal, embrace academic work as well as 
training in the science of pedagogy. These are the 
Fremont Normal College, the Wayne Normal School, 
the Lincoln Normal University, and the Western Normal 
College, at Lincoln. 


QUESTIONS. 

Give a reason for a public school system. When are school 
meetings held? Who may vote at school elections? What may 
the voters do at school meetings? What officers have school 
districts? State their duties. How many classes of teachers’ cer¬ 
tificates are there? What is requisite for a third grade certificate?- 
for a second grade certificate? for a first-class certificate? for a state 
certificate? Who issues teachers’ certificate? Why should not a 
teacher without a certificate draw pay? What is the object of a 
teachers’ certificate? State the duties of a county superintendent; 
of the state superintendent. How many classes of teachers’ insti¬ 
tutes are there? What are such institutes for? What argument 
have you in support of compulsory attendance at school? What in 
opposition? What reason for prohibiting the employment of 
children in shops, &c.? What is the law in regard to free text¬ 
books? What is the argument in favor of free text-books? What 
argument in opposition? What are the several sources of the 
school funds? What constitutes the temporary school fund? 
What the permanent school fund? What schools cannot receive- 



ADMINISTRATION 


87 


state funds? How is the state university governed? how organ¬ 
ized? From what source does the university derive its funds? 
Explain the government of the state normal school. How is it 
maintained? What is its special line of work? 


CHAPTER V.—PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 

Their Purpose. We have seen that each county 
must care for the poor within its own borders. A repub¬ 
lican government recognizes that, while each individual 
owes a duty to the whole people to preserve the state or¬ 
ganization, so the whole people owe to each individual of 
the state the duty of caring for him when he is unable to 
care for himself. The paupers who require ordinary care, 
only, can well be provided for by each county. 

But, there are other classes of unfortunates who re¬ 
quire, not only more care, but more skillful treatment 
and more expensive buildings for such treatment. The 
state finds it more economical to take these classes of un¬ 
fortunates under its own care, and to bring them all into 
hospitals by themselves. For this purpose, the state pro¬ 
vides hospitals, with all the needed appliances of build¬ 
ings and attendants, for the insane, blind, deaf and dumb 
and the friendless. 

Insane. There are three institutions for the care and 
treatment of the insane. Two are called hospitals, one 
of which is located at Lincoln, and one at Norfolk, and 
an asylum for the incurable insane, at Hastings. These 
are under the general control of the state board of public 
lands and buildings. The chief executive officer of each 
institution is a superintendent, and he has as many assist¬ 
ants as he may need, all appointed by the governor. The 
superintendents and assistants must be physicians of ac- 



88 


ADMINISTRATION. 


knowleclged skill and ability in their profession. The 
superintendent has entire charge and control of the medi¬ 
cal, moral and dietic treatment of the patients. Each in¬ 
stitution has a steward, matron, and such other aids and 
helps as are needed, appointed by the superintendent, and 
for whose conduct he is responsible. 

In each county, there is a board of commissioners of 
insanity, consisting of three persons, of whom the clerk 
of the district court is one; the judge of the district court 
appoints the other two members, of which one must be 
a physician and one an attorney, to serve two years. 
The friends of a person believed to be insane make ap¬ 
plication to the commissioners of insanity for his admis¬ 
sion to the hospital. At once, the commissioners take 
testimony concerning the matter. If they find that the 
person named is insane, he is delivered to the sheriff of 
the county, with a proper warrant, and is conveyed to the 
hospital. A person confined in this institution has the 
right to the writ of habeas corpus to test if he be really 
insane. Each county bears the expense of the treatment 
of its own insane. 

The Blind. The Institute for the Blind is located at 
Nebraska City; has the same general government as the 
hospitals and asylum for the insane; but the governor ap¬ 
points the principal, and the board of public lands and 
buildings appoints the other teachers and assistants. 
This is really a school for the education of those who 
cannot see, although efforts are constantly made to repair 
the sight of those who are deemed not incurable. All 
blind persons of the state, of suitable age and capacity 
to receive instruction, are entitled to free admission. 
Each county superintendent is required to report annually 
to the principal of this school, the name, age, residence 


ADMINISTRATION. 


89 


and postoflice address of each blind person in his county. 
The state pays all the expenses of the education and 
maintenance of the inmates of the school, except that the 
inmates, their friends or the counties of which they are 
resident, must bear the expense of their clothing. 

Deaf and Dumb. The Asylum for the Deaf and 
Dumb is situated at Omaha and has the same government 
as the institutions heretofore described. The inmates 
receive all the instruction in mental, physical and moral 
culture possible to that class. All deaf and dumb persons, 
resident of the state, of suitable age and capacity to re¬ 
ceive instruction, are admitted to the enjoyment of all its 
benefits. The state pays all the expenses of education 
and maintenance. 

The Friendless. The Home for the Friendless has 
its headquarters at Lincoln. The property part of it is 
under the control of the state board of public lands and 
buildings. The operations of the home are directed by 
the society of the home for the friendless. This society 
is a voluntary organization and is supported by offerings 
of the charitable. The state appropriated the money for 
the erection of the building. This home receives and 
cares for, to the extent of its means, all the friendless 
and needy of the state who do not come within the juris¬ 
diction of any other institution. The society is composed 
entirely of women, and the superintendent of the home is 
a woman, and is appointed by the society of which she is 
a member. 

The Industrial School is at Kearney, and is gov¬ 
erned by the state board of public lands and buildings, 
which appoints the superintendent, steward and other 
employes. The superintendent has charge of all the 
property and of the operations of the school. 


9 ° 


ADMINISTRATION. 


When a boy under the age of sixteen is found guilty 
of a crime, other than murder or manslaughter, the dis¬ 
trict court is authorized to enter an order sending the 
offender to the reform school. With the offender and the 
order, the judge sends a statement of the nature of the 
offense committed. Inmates of this institution remain 
until arrival at age or until discharged by legal authority. 
A discharge by legal authority or by arrival at age is a 
full and final discharge from the penalties of the crime. 
The state pays all the expenses of admission, mainte¬ 
nance, instruction and release. 

Girls Industrial School. When the industrial 
school at Kearney was instituted it received girls as well 
as boys. The legislature of 1891 instituted the girls* 
industrial school at Genoa, which is governed and con¬ 
ducted in a manner similar to the school at Kearney. It 
receives only girls, on the same terms and in the same 
manner that boys are received at Kearney. 

The Penitentiary is not wholly a punitive institu¬ 
tion, although its inmates come to it as a punishment for 
violation of law. The name given to it, penitentiary , in¬ 
dicates that it is intended as a reformatory; a place of 
penitence. Many moral philosophers hold that criminal 
intent is a disease, and that all criminals are entitled to 
our sympathy and good offices. The acceptance of a shade 
of this idea will be found in all our criminal laws. Hence, 
a consideration of the penitentiary comes fitly under the 
head of reformatory and charitable institutions. 

This institution is located near to the city of Lincoln 
and is governed by the state board of public lands and 
buildings. The immediate government is in the hands 
of a warden and deputy warden, who are appointed by 
the governor and senate to serve two years. 


ADMINISTRATION. 


9 1 

All persons convicted of a felony are sentenced to con¬ 
finement in this institution, many of them are also sen¬ 
tenced to hard labor. For the purposes of labor, shops, 
tools and other appliances and machinery are provided, 
so that all the common mechanical trades can be carried 
on by convicts. The labor of the convicts is leased to a 
contractor who puts this labor to such uses as he chooses. 
He may sub-lease it, or a part of it, to others, or use it 
himself. The lessee receives from the state a certain 
amount per head for the cost of keeping the prisoners, 
and he assumes to pay all the expenses of feeding, cloth¬ 
ing, guarding and caring for them, while he receives the 
returns of their labor. When prisoners enter the peniten¬ 
tiary, they must have their hair and whiskers cut close, 
and they are dressed in clothing of white and black 
stripes. This is done as one of the precautions against 
their escape. 

Feeble Minded Youth. The Nebraska Institute 
for Feeble Minded Youth is located at Beatrice, and is 
controlled by the board of public lands and buildings. 
The board appoints the superintendent, who must be a 
physician. Upon the recommendation of the superintend¬ 
ent, the board appoints a matron and other teachers and 
employes. The institute is to provide shelter and pro¬ 
tection, instruction and improvement to the feeble minded 
youths of the state. In addition to the mental and moral 
care which inmates of other institutions receive, the 
inmates of this are trained in such agricultural and 
mechanical employments as they may be able to bear, so 
as to tit them for good citizenship. The parents or guar¬ 
dians of the inmates pay the expenses of clothing, if they 
are able; if not able, the expense is borne by the county 
in which the parents have their residence. 


9 2 


ADMINISTRATION. 


The Nebraska Industrial Home is at Milford, and 
provides employment and means of support for women 
and girls. It is under the supervision of the trustees of 
the “ Woman’s Associate Charities of the State of Ne¬ 
braska,” but the board of public lands and buildings has 
control of the property and may establish rules and regu¬ 
lations for the government of the Home. 

Soldiers’ Home. The Nebraska Soldiers’ and Sail¬ 
ors’ Home is established at Grand Island. It receives 
honorably discharged soldiers, sailors and marines of the 
war of the rebellion, and nurses who served in army, 
navy or hospital during that war; the wives and children 
of such soldiers, sailors, marines or nurses, if they are 
unable, by reason of service, old age, or other cause, to 
support themselves, if they have been resident^ of the 
state for two years next preceeding their admission. A 
large central building is used as a sort of hospital for 
those who are unable to work. For those who are able 
to do some manual labor, cottages and tracts of land are 
provided, and they work under the direction of the com¬ 
mandant of the home. Those who are unable to labor 
are treated somewhat like those in ordinary hospitals; 
medical aid is furnished free to all needing it. 

In a general way, the home is governed by the board 
of public land and buildings. The governor appoints 
the commandant, who must be an ex-union-soldier of the 
war of the rebellion, and who has immediate control and 
government of the home. The governor appoints a visit¬ 
ing and examining board. This board must consist of 
three honorably discharged volunteer soldiers of the 
United States and two members of the Woman’s Relief 
Corps of the state. This board visits the home once in 
every six months, and examines into the conduct and 


ADMINISTRATION. 


93 


management of the same, and reports the result of its 
visitation and examination to the board of public lands 
and buildings. These two boards, acting together, adopt 
rules and regulations for the government of the home, and 
prescribe the rules by which applicants may be admitted. 


QUESTIONS. 

What classes of people does the state care for in public institu¬ 
tions? Why should the state do that? State location and govern¬ 
ment of the institutions for the insane. Describe the methods 
employed in sending insane persons to asylums. State location 
and government of the asylum for the blind. Who may be admit¬ 
ted to it? State location and government for the deaf and dumb. 
State location and government of the home for the friendless. 
State the government of the Industrial Schools at Kearney and 
Genoa. Who may be admitted to them and how? What kind 
of an institution is the penitentiary ? State its location and gov¬ 
ernment. Who are admitted, and how? What is the object of 
the institution for feeble minded youth? How is this object at¬ 
tained ? State location and government of the industrial home. 
State location and government of the soldiers’ home. What are 
the qualifications for admittance ? 


CHAPTER VI.—MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS. 

The State Historical Society is a voluntary asso¬ 
ciation, formed for the purpose of collecting and preserv¬ 
ing such facts and other historical data as may be service¬ 
able in securing a full history of the state. The officers 
consist of a president, two vice-presidents, a secretary and 
a treasurer. It has an annual meeting for hearing such 
reports and addresses as may be made to it, embracing 
the subject of its existence. Reports are annually made 
to the governor, embracing all its transactions and expen¬ 
ditures. The reports, addresses and papers of the 




94 


ADMINISTRATION. 


society are published at the expense of the state, and 
distributed as other state documents are distributed. In 
1883,the legislature, by special act, reorganized and adopt¬ 
ed the society as a state institution, and appropriated the 
sum of five hundred dollars for its use and benefit. The 
society has its headquarters at Lincoln. Members are 
admitted by an affirmative vote of the society and on the 
payment of a fee of two dollars. Members are entitled 
to copies of its publications free. 

The State Agricultural Society is composed of 
the successors to the original twenty-seven incorporators 
of 1858, together with the president of each county 
society, or a delegate from each county society. The 
officers are elected annually, and consist of a president, 
vice presidents, secretary, treasurer, and a board of 
directors. The title of the society is “ The State Board 
of Agriculture.” The board reports to the governor, an¬ 
nually, the proceedings of the society, with a bill of 
items showing the money received and paid out, giving a 
general view of the condition of agriculture throughout 
the state, and recommending such measures as it may 
deem for the best interest of the agricultural industry of 
the state. The reports of the board are printed annuallv 
at the expense of the state, and are distributed to the 
society, to county societies, and to officers of the state 
and county. The state'appropriates two thousand dol¬ 
lars, annually, for awards of premiums in the various 
branches of agriculture. This board has control of the 
state fair, which it holds each year. It may locate the 
fair at one place for a period of five years. The annual 
meeting is held at Lincoln on the third Tuesday of 
January. 

The State Horticultural Society meets annual- 


ADMINISTRATION. 


95 


ly at Lincoln, on the third Wednesday of January. Its 
officers are elected at that meeting, and they consist of a 
president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and board 
of directors. The society encourages the organization of 
district societies and county societies, giving them repre¬ 
sentation in its deliberations, and it aims to advance the 
interest of fruits and forests in the state. The secretary 
makes an annual report to the governor, with an itemized 
statement of the money received and expended, a view of 
the condition of horticulture throughout the state, and 
such recommendation^ as he may deem useful. The re¬ 
port is printed at the expense of the state, and is 
distributed to the society and to the state and county 
officers. The state appropriates one thousand dollars a 
year for payment of premiums awarded in the varioug 
branches of horticulture. 

County Agricultural Societies. A county so¬ 
ciety for the improvement of agriculture and horticulture 
within that county may be formed by twenty or more re¬ 
sidents of a county by the adoption of a constitution and 
by-laws. County fairs are annually held by these societies 
and premiums awarded for the improvement of soil, crop, 
tillage, manure, implements, stock, articles of domestic 
industry, and for such other articles, productions and im¬ 
provements, as the society shall deem proper, and it may 
perform all such acts as it may deem best calculated to 
promote the agricultural and manufacturing interests of 
the county and state. The society may have such officers 
as its constitution may provide. These are usually a 
president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and a board 
of directors, and the officers are usually elected annually. 
The society must annually publish a list of its award of 
premiums, and an abstract of the treasurer’s account. It 


9 6 


ADMINISTR ATION. 


must also make an annual report to the state board upon 
the condition of agriculture in the county, and such other 
matters as it deems worthy to be communicated. Each 
society may own real estate, not exceeding one hundred 
and sixty acres of land, for a fair ground. The county 
board is authorized to appropriate to the use and benefit 
of the county society an amount not exceeding one hundred 
dollars for each thousand inhabitants of the county, and 
such money must be used for fitting up the fair grounds, 
solely. Such appropriation cannot exceed one thousand 
dollars in any county. A full report of the expenditure 
of the money shall be made to the county board. When¬ 
ever a duly organized county society shall have in its 
treasury the sum of fifty dollars, the county clerk is di¬ 
rected to draw a warrant annually on the county treasurer 
in favor of such society for the sum of three cents for each 
inhabitant of said county, on the basis of five inhabitants 
for each vote cast in the county for member of congress, 
at the last election for said officers, and it is made the.duty 
of the treasurer to pay the warrant. 

PUBLIC LIBRARIES 

The people recognize the aid which good books furnish 
to our advancing civilization. Our steady growth in 
culture, intelligence and mental power depends largely 
upon books. These are especially valuable for purposes 
of study when they are collected into libraries, so that 
the same books may be accessible to many people. The 
legislature of Nebraska has provided for libraries in the 
state, not only in aid of culture and intelligence, but also 
in aid of education and of historic and scientific research. 

The State Library is in the capitol building at Lin¬ 
coln, and the clerk of the supreme court is its librarian. 


ADMINISTRATION. 


97 


It consists of two divisions; the miscellaneous division 
and the law division. The miscellaneous division con¬ 
tains works of general literature and science, history, 
biography, travels, poetry &c. The law division contains 
all the books of reports of courts, and other law books. 
The librarian makes annual reports to the governor of the 
condition of the books. 

Libraries in Cities. The council of any incorporated 
town or city may, by ordinance, establish a public library 
and reading room. They elect nine directors who must 
be citizens. Three are elected every year, in June, to 
serve three years. These directors have full control of 
the library and its property, make rules and regulations 
for its government, appoint agents to attend to it, and 
make all expenditures of money in its behalf. The coun¬ 
cil may levy a tax, not exceeding one mill on the dollar, 
for its support and maintenance. The board may pur¬ 
chase grounds, erect buildings, or lease rooms. It reports 
annually to the council the condition of the books and 
property, and the receipts and expenditures of money. 
The library and reading room are free to all citizens of 
the city or town. Parties residing outside may use the 
library and reading room on payment of a reasonable fee. 

School Libraries. Most of the city school districts, 
and a large proportion of smaller districts, are collecting 
libraries for the use of the pupils of the schools. A well 
selected library, of books suited to the years and attain¬ 
ments of the pupils, is worth more than a professor of 
literature. It creates a taste for books, even if none 
existed before. If the teacher in charge of the library 
knows how to lead the pupils, the most vicious taste can 
be refined. There is no expressed authority in the law for 
the maintenance of a school library, but the authority is 


9 8 


ADMINISTRATION. 


believed to exist in the general powers of the board. 

The State University, the State Normal School, and all 
the universities, colleges, academies and private schools 
of the state have libraries, of fair extent, for the use of 
their students. 


ROADS. 

The law reserves all section lines for use as roads, and 
they may be opened and used whenever they are needed. 
There are two methods by which roads that are not on 
section lines may be opened. If all the persons who own 
the land which the proposed road will cross are willing to 
give the land for the road, they give their written con¬ 
sent that the road be opened, and the county board 
accordingly makes the order opening the road. 

How Opened. If the owners of the land which the 
proposed road will cross are not willing to give their 
written consent for the road, the persons who desire 
the road present to the county board a petition, signed 
by ten voters who reside within live miles of the proposed 
road, particularly describing the road wanted, and asking 
its location. The county clerk appoints a commission to 
examine the proposed route, and to report if a road is 
needed in that place or near it. If the commission re¬ 
ports in favor of the road, or one that will answer the 
purpose of the one asked for, the county clerk sets a day, 
not less than sixty days thereafter, and publishes a notice 
for all objections to be filed in his office. If there are 
no objections to the road, and no claims for damages filed, 
the board will establish the road at its next session. If 
there .are objections or claims for damages, the clerk 
appoints three suitable and disinterested electors as 
appraisers to examine and to assess the damages. 


ADMINISTRATION. 


99 


At a subsequent meeting of the board the damages may 
be increased or diminished, or left as awarded by the 
appraisers. The petitioners for the road pay all the dam¬ 
ages and costs of this proceeding. If they consider the 
damages awarded too high, they may appeal to the 
district court. If the person damaged by the location of 
the road regards the award too small, he may appeal in 
like manner. When roads are located they are platted 
and recorded in the office of the county clerk. 

How Worked. For the purpose of working roads, 
the county board divides each precinct or township into 
as many road districts as it deems best. In each district 
an overseer of roads is elected at each general election, 
and he has charge of the roads in his district, under the 
general direction of the county board, and he is bound to 
keep the roads in as good condition as the funds will 
permit. All male inhabitants between the ages of twenty- 
one and fifty, except paupers, idiots and lunatics and the 
active militia, are assessed three dollars a year as a road 
tax. Three fourths of this tax may be paid in labor at 
$1.50 a day, and the other part must be paid in cash, in 
order to buy scrapers and materials for bridges, culverts, 
etc. The overseer of roads makes settlement with the 
county board at the annual session in January, and may 
be called to report at any other time. Public roads are 
free to all people, on foot, on horseback, or in vehicles. 

THE STATE MILITIA. 

The American people have learned, partly by experi¬ 
ence, and partly by historic study, that a well trained 
militia is a better wall of defense than a large standing 
army. The United States has a standing army so small 
as to excite the wonder of Europeans. The army com- 


IOO 


ADMINISTRATION. 


prises not far from twenty-five thousand men. In addi¬ 
tion, most of the states have a military organization in¬ 
tended to train their citizens in the use of arms and in 
military movements. In Nebraska, as a reference to the 
constitution will show, the legislature determines what 
persons are liable to military duty and provides for the 
organization and discipline of the militia. 

Who are Liable. Every able-bodied male citizen* 
between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years; except 
(1) officers of the United States, (2) state officers and 
county officers of the state, (3) all persons who are mem¬ 
bers of any religious society or organization by whose 
creed, or discipline, the bearing of arms is forbidden. In 
order to obtain such exemption the person must present 
to the enrolling officer proof that he is entitled to it. 

Active Militia. The active militia is called the “Ne¬ 
braska National Guards,” and consists of not more than 
two thousand men, and is formed by voluntary enlistment 
for three years. In case military forces are needed by 
the state, the active militia will be the first called out. 
If more than the active militia are needed, the governor 
may order a draft. When a draft is ordered, the number 
of men needed is apportioned among the several townships 
and precincts of the state. The government is always ready 
for a draft, because the law directs the assessor, when he 
makes his annual assessment of property, to obtain the 
name and residence of all persons liable to military serv¬ 
ice, and to report the same. 

How Divided. The Nebraska National Guards con¬ 
sist of two regiments of infantry, a battery of artillery 
and some cavalry, all constituting one brigade. A com¬ 
pany of infantry contains not more than forty privates, a 
company of cavalry not more than seventy-eight privates* 


ADMINISTRATION. 


IOI 


and a battery of artillery not more than one hundred and 
twenty-two privates. 

Officers. Each company has one captain, two lieuten¬ 
ants, and sergeants, corporals and musicians, and other 
subordinates. Each regiment is officered by one colonel, 
lieutenant-colonel, major, surgeon, chaplain, adjutant, 
•quartermaster, sergeant-major, quartermaster sergeant, 
hospital steward, chief musician, and two principal mu¬ 
sicians. Each regiment may also have a band, contain¬ 
ing not more than twenty members, nor less than twelve 
members. 

The whole militia of the state is under the immediate 
command of a brigadier-general, appointed by the gov¬ 
ernor. The staff of the brigadier-general is appointed by 
the governor, upon the recommendation of the brigadier- 
general, and comprises an assistant adjutant-general, a 
surgeon, a quartermaster, a commissary of subsistence, 
and two aids-de-camp. All officers, except those of the 
staffs, are elected by the officers and men ot their respect¬ 
ive commands, and are commissioned by the governor 
upon his approval of such election. 

The governor is made commander-in-chief of all the 
military forces of the state. As such commander-in-chief, 
he has a staff of officers embracing an adjutant general, a 
quartermaster general, a commissary general, a surgeon, 
an inspector general and a judge advocate general. 

Exemptions. The officers and men of the active 
militia are exempt from working on roads or streets, from 
the payment of poll tax, and from the duty of sitting up¬ 
on any grand or petit jury. 

Drills. Each company and battery must meet for 
drill one day in each of the months, April, May, June, 
July and August; the time and place to be set by the 


102 


ADMINISTRATION. 


commander. The whole brigade holds an encampment 
for instruction and practice, not less than five days nor 
more than ten days, in each year, between August 10 and 
September 20, at such time and place as the governor may 
designate. 

Pay. When called into the active service of the state, 
and when in attendance at special drills and at the annual 
encampment for instruction, the officers and men receive 
pay for the time so engaged, together with food and 
lodging. A service of three years in the active militia 
entitles a person to an honorable discharge, which proba¬ 
bly carries with it an exemption from further calls to 
such service except in time of war. 

Volunteer Companies. The law forbids any body 
of men, other than the regularly organized volunteer 
militia of the state, and the regular troops of the United 
States, to associate as a military company for drill or 
parade, without the permission of the governor. It is 
provided, however, that in educational institutions, where 
military science is taught the students, with the consent 
of the governor, may parade in public with arms under 
the superintendence of their instructors, and may take 
part in any regimental or brigade encampment. While 
in such encampment, they must be governed by the law& 
governing the militia of the state therein. 

VACANCIES IN OFFICE. 

A vacancy may occur in any office by the failure of the 
person elected, or appointed, to qualify and serve; by 
resignation, by conviction of a felony, by removal from 
the district or state, by impeachment and removal, by be- 
coming of unsound mind, and by death. 


ADMINISTRATION. 


IO3 


It is seldom that a person refuses to serve in the office 
to which he has been elected, or appointed. Very few 
persons are presented as candidates without their consent. 
In the small offices, such as township officers, vacancies 
sometimes occur in this way, as the voters frequently 
have a difficulty in finding persons well qualified to fill 
them, and so they often elect persons who will not con¬ 
sent to serve. For the offices that pay salaries or large 
fees, the number who seek them exceeds the number that 
can be elected. 

OFFICIAL OATHS. 

Before taking any office, the person elected or appoint¬ 
ed thereto must take oath to support the constitution of 
the United States and of this state, and to perform the 
duties of his office to the best of his ability. In addition 
to this, the constitution requires that the officers of the 
executive and judicial departments, and the members of 
the legislature, shall take oath that, at the election at 
which they were chosen, they did not improperly influence 
the vote of any elector, and that they have not accepted, 
and will not accept or receive, either directly or indirect¬ 
ly, any money or other valuable thing, from any person 
or corporation, or any promise of office, for any official 
act or influence. A refusal to take this oath forfeits the 
office. 

OFFICIAL BONDS. 

All officers of the state, district, county, city, village, 
township, and precinct, who are authorized to handle the 
public money, or to handle money in process of judicial 
collection, are required to give bonds for the safety of 
the money. The bonds of the officers of the executive 
department of t}ie state are in the sum of fifty thousand 


104 


ADMINISTRATION. 


dollars. Treasurers’ bonds are usually fixed, as near as 
may be, at twice the amount of money that will probably 
be in their hands at any one time. The bonds of other 
officers are fixed at such sums as will insure the safe and 
honest keeping of the money. The bonds are signed by 
friends of the officers, who have faith in their honesty. 

QUESTIONS. 

State organization of the state historical society. What is its 
purpose? Is that a praiseworthy purpose? Why? What is the 
organization and purpose of the state agricultural society—of the 
state horticultural society—of the county agricultural societies. 
How far are such societies beneficial to the people? Why should 
the public endow and organize libraries? How are libraries in 
cities controlled? What advantage to a school is a library? How 
are roads opened? How worked? What is vicious in the present 
system of opening and working roads? What is the object of a 
militia organization? Who are liable to militia service? Who 
constitute the active militia? How constituted? What officers 
have companies? regiments?—brigades? What staff officers has 
the governor, as commander-in-chief? What are the duties of 
each of these staff officers? From what are the active militia 
exempt? Why should they be so exempt? When do the active 
militia drill? What is the law in regard to volunteer companies? 
How may vacancies in office occur? What is the substance of the 
oath which officers must take? What is the advantage to the state 
in requiring such oath? What is said about official bonds? 


CONSTITUTION OF NEBRASKA. 


PREAMBLE. 

We, the people, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, do 
ordain and establish the following declaration of rights and frame 
of government, as the constitution of the State of Nebraska. 

The object of a preamble is to make some statement in 
regard to what follows, as introductory to that which 
follows. A constitution of a free people fitly states its 
purpose and the source of its authority. The constitution 
of the State of Nebraska states that “the people” have 
ordained and established it. The people elected the 
legislature; the legislature passed a law asking the people 
if they desired a new constitution; the people elected the 
members of the constitutional convention, and then voted 
to adopt the constitution formed by that convention. This 
makes this instrument the work of the people. 

ARTICLE I.-BILL OF RIGHTS. 

Section 1 . All persons are by nature free and independent, 
and have certain inherent and inalienable rights; among these are 
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. To secure these rights, 
and the protection of property, governments are instituted among 
people, deriving their just powers from the consent of the 
governed. 

This sentiment is reproduced from the Declaration of 
Independence, and recognizes the doctrine that there is 
no rightful government that is not organized by those 
who are to be governed. “Inherent and inalienable 
rights” means those rights that we received at our birth, 
and that belong to us as human beings, and that we can¬ 
not sell or give away—cannot deprive ourselves of. 
“The pursuit of happiness” includes the right to have 
our property protected. The rights to “life, liberty, and 


io 6 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 


the pursuit of happiness” may not include all the rights 
that are inherent, inalienable, and that government is 
instituted to secure. These are “among” them, only. 

Sec. 2. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,, 
in this state otherwise than for punishment of crime whereof the 
party shall have been duly convicted. 

This follows from the previous declaration that all men 
are created free and that governments are instituted to 
protect the liberty of their citizens. When a person com¬ 
mits such a crime as shows him to be dangerous to the 
community, the community has a right to protect itself 
by depriving him of his liberty. 

Sec. 3. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property r 
without due process of law. 

Whether or not a person has committed a crime that 
justifies the community in depriving him of his liberty 
can be ascertained only after a trial, and this trial must 
proceed under the forms provided by the laws. A person 
has the right to know, always, in what manner, and under 
what forms, the community may deprive him of any 
right. 

Sec. 4. All persons have a natural and indefeasable right to 
worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own con¬ 
sciences. No person shall be compelled to attend, erect or support 
any place of worship against his consent, and no preference shall 
be given by law to any religious society, nor shall any interference 
with the rights of conscience be permitted. No religious tests 
shall be required as a qualification for office, nor shall any person 
be incompetent to be a witness on account of his religious belief; 
but nothing herein shall be construed to dispense with oaths and 
affirmations. Religion, morality, and knowledge, however, being 
essential to good government, it shall be the duty of the legislature 
to pass suitable laws to protect every religious denomination in the 
peaceable enjoyment of its own mode of public worship, and to 
encourage schools and the means of instruction. 

No one has a right to regulate our consciences or our 
worship for us. The right of each one to obey his own 
conscience in the matter of worship cannot be defeated by 
any law. This applies to his right to attend such church 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 


107 




as be chooses, or not to attend; and to help in the erection 
and support of any church or religious organization. 
Ihat a person belongs to any particular church, or does 
not belong tb any, cannot be urged as a qualification or 
disqualification for an ofiice, nor deny to any suitor in 
court the right to call him as a witness. This does not 
say, nor does it mean, that the state, or the law, or the 
court, only, shall not apply the “religious test;” it means 
that no one has a right to apply that test. If a voter 
votes for a candidate solely because of that candidate’s 
religious belief, that voter violates the letter and spirit of 
this section of the bill of rights. As all the people have 
the right to their religious belief, it is right that the law 
shall not give any preference to any religious body or 
organization, but that it should fully protect each body 
in the enjoyment of its own organization and mode of 
worship. This clause also voices the sentiment of the 
people of the state on the subject of education. It com¬ 
mands the legislature to pass laws for the encouragement 
of schools and other means of education. 

Sec. 5. Every person may freely speak, write, and publish on 
all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty; and in 
all trials for libel, both civil and criminal, the truth, when pub¬ 
lished with good motives and for justifiable ends, shall be a suffici¬ 
ent defense. 

This is a modification of the law of libel, and allows 
persons to tell the truth about others, if they do it for 
the public good. Under the old law of libel, the more 
truthful the statement the greater the libel. 

Sec. G. The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate but the 
legislature may authorize trial by a jury of a less number than 
twelve men, in courts inferior to the district court. 

The right of trial by a jury dates from very early times 
in England, and is recognized by the common law to 
mean by a jury of twelve voters. The state cannot reduce 




io8 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 


this number, except in courts inferior to the district 
court, such as county courts, justice courts, and police 
courts. 

Sec. 7. The right of the people to be secure iu their persons, 
houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and 
seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue but upon 
probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly 
describing the place to be searched and the person or thing to be 
seized. 

The right to be secure in person and property from 
unreasonable searches and seizures, seems to be a part of 
what the Declaration of Independence calls the right to 
the “pursuit of happiness.” Some of my readers have 
read the often-quoted remark of Shylock: 

“ You take my life 

When you do take the means whereby I live.” 

—Merchant of Venice , Act. IV, Scene 1. 

So, if you take away the means whereby we enjoy our¬ 
selves, you thereby take away the enjoyment. 

By the rules of the common law, which this section of 
the bill of rights seems to re-enact and to emphasize, no 
officer of the government can search a person’s house, or 
seize his property, papers, or himself, until a complaint 
has been filed in a court showing some lawful reason for 
making the search or seizure, and the person making the 
complaint must swear that the facts stated in it are true. 
Then a warrant may be issued for the search, or for the 
seizure. Both the complaint and the warrant must 
minutely describe the house, papers, goods and persons 
to be searched or seized. 

Sec. 8. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be 
suspended, unless, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety 
requires it, and then only in such manner as shall be prescribed 
by law. 

When a person thinks that he is illegally imprisoned, 
he makes application to a court, stating the facts to show 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 


IO9 

the illegality. The court will issue an order to an officer, 
sheriff, or constable, to bring the person before it for in¬ 
quiry as to the cause of the imprisonment. In early times, 
the orders were in Latin. This writ began, habeas corpus y 
“you will have the body” of the person, naming him. 
The right to use this writ is one of the safeguards of a 
free citizen. There does not seem to be any reason why 
it should ever be suspended. The law might provide that 
offenders, who interfere with the execution of military 
officers or troops, may be arrested by such officers or 
troops, and imprisoned until a trial can be had. When 
the right to the writ of habeas corpus was wrested from 
the King of England, it was too valuable to be left at the 
arbitrary disposal of the king, or parliament. Although 
the same dangers cannot threaten the people of a free 
republic that then threatened the people of England, 
yet the framers of our constitution wisely refused to place 
the suspension of the right to this writ under the arbitrary 
disposal of a governor, or of a legislature which might be 
elected in times of excitement and of intense passion. 
Therefore the bill of rights directs that rules may be 
established by the legislature in accordance to which the 
right to the writ may be suspended. 

Sec. 9. All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, 
except for treason and murder where the proof is evident or the 
presumption great. Excessive bail shall not be required nor ex¬ 
cessive lines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. 

This recognizes the theory that all persons are innocent 
until they are proven to be guilty. The community will 
be safe if the accused persons are placed under bonds that 
are large enough to keep them from running away, except 
in cases where there is but little doubt of guilt. “Excess¬ 
ive bail” means that the amount of the bond is higher 
than the amount that will prevent the escape of the accus- 


no 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 


ed. “Excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishment” 
are such fines and punishments as have not heretofore 
been, inflicted by the common law. 

Sec. 10. No person shall be held to answer for a criminal 
offense, except in cases in which the punishment is by fine or 
imprisonment otherwise than in the penitentiary, in case of im¬ 
peachment, and in cases arising in the army and navy or in the 
militia, when in actual service in time of war, or public danger, 
unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand j ury; Provided , 
that the legislature may, by law, provide for holding persons to 
answer for criminal offenses on information of a public prosecutor; 
and may, by law, abolish, limit, change, amend, or otherwise regu¬ 
late the grand jury system. 

In order that prosecutions may not be entered upon 
lightly, without a fair probability that the crime charged 
has actually been committed and that the person who is 
charged w ith its commission is guilty, a grand jury of 
sixteen men must first hear all the evidence for the state. 
If tw T elve of that jury think that that evidence is enough 
to show 7 that the accused is guilty, they say so, and the 
foreman signs the indictment or charge. Until this is 
done, no one charged wdth a felony can be tried. A felonv 
is a crime that w r ill send one to the penitentiary or to be 
hanged. There has been a great deal of discussion about 
the grand jury system, and many w T ise men doubt its 
value. The legislature of 1885 abolished the grand jury 
in ordinary cases, but authorized the judge of the dis¬ 
trict court to order one in his discretion. 

Sec. 11. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall have 
the right to appear and defend in person or by counsel, to demand 
the nature and cause of accusation, and to have a copy thereof, to 
meet the witnesses against him face to face; to have process to 
compel the attendance of witnesses in his behalf, and a speedy 
public trial by an impartial jury of the county or district in w 7 hich 
the offense is alleged to have been committed. 

Under the practice of European governments, the 
accused had none of these rights. He had to make his 
defense in the dark. The dictates of humanity have 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 


Ill 


made this departure from that practice, giving to every 
accused a right to have a lawyer to help in his defense, 
to have a copy of the paper that makes charges against 
him, and to be present to see the witnesses when they 
testify against him; to have orders of the court that shall 
compel the attendance of witnesses for himself; to have a 
speedy trial, a trial by a jury that is not biased or pre¬ 
judiced, and to have it in the county where the crime was 
committed or said to have been committed. 

Sec. 12. No person shall be compelled, in any criminal case, to 
give evidence against himself, or be twice put in jeopardy for the 
same offense. 

It would be inhuman to compel an accused person to 
furnish the evidence to convict himself. A prisoner is 
allowed to testify if he wishes to do so, but he cannot be 
compelled. In some European countries, it has been 
customary, when a prisoner was acquitted, to put him on 
trial again, in another place, and before another court, 
for the same offense. This is not right and in this state, 
when a prisoner has been acquitted, declared innocent by 
a court or jury, he cannot again be put on trial for the 
same offense. 

Sec. 13. All courts shall be open, and every person, for any 
injury done him in his lands, goods, person, or reputation, shall 
have a remedy by due course of law, and justice administered 
without denial or delay. 

This is a right that is included in the right to life, lib¬ 
erty and the pursuit of happiness. It prohibits the delays 
and denials of justice so common in monarchial countries. 

Sec. 14. Treason against the state shall consist only in levying 
war against the state, or in adhering to its enemies, giving them 
aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless 
on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on con¬ 
fession in open court. 

It is safest that the crime of treason should be defined 
by the constitution so that no legislature can define it, 


11 2 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 


or change the definition, to suit its prejudices. Levying 
war against the state and giving aid and comfort to the 
enemies of the state, fully define the crime. It makes no 
difference how this aid and comfort are given, whether 
by gifts or loans of money, munitions of war, means of 
subsistence, or by words, written or spoken, or by signs 
that convey ideas. Any act of mind or body that will 
aid, encourage or comfort an enemy of the state of 
Nebraska is treason. As treason is the most odious and 
the highest crime known to society, and as persons ac¬ 
cused of that crime can hardly expect the sympathy that 
other accused persons usually find, such persons need all 
the safeguards for a fair trial that can be given consist¬ 
ently with the safety of the state. One of these safe¬ 
guards is the provision that two witnesses to the same 
overt act of treason are needed in order to convict, if the 
accused does not confess. 

Sec. 15. All penalties shall be in proportion to the nature of 
the offense, and no conviction shall work corruption of blood or 
forfeiture of estate; nor shall any person be transported out of the 
state for any offense committed within the state. 

The intention of this section is that all penalties shall 
be proportioned to the magnitude of the offense. Petit 
larceny and grand larceny are of the same nature; so 
are simple assault and an assault with intent to commit a 
felony; but penalties are proportioned, in larceny, with 
reference to the amount of property stolen, and with 
reference to the intent, in assault. It would be monstrous- 
to inflict the same punishment for an assault as for 
murder, or for the theft of a cent, as for the theft of a 
million dollars. In olden European times, a conviction 
for some crimes resulted in changing the rule of inherit¬ 
ance, so that the accused could neither receive nor con¬ 
vey property by inheritance, and in a forfeiture of the 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 


113 

estates of the accused. The hardship and barbarism of 
this system are provided against in this section. A fine 
may be inflicted of a certain sum, but there can be no 
confiscation of estates, and 110 relative of an accused 
shares in the conviction unless personally tried and 
convicted. 

Sec. 1(>. No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impair¬ 
ing the obligation of contracts, or making any irrevocable grant of 
special privileges or immunities, shall be passed. 

A ‘‘bill of attainder” is a special law that convicts per¬ 
sons, named in it, of treason or gther political crimes, 
and sentences them to- death or to forfeiture of estates and 
corruption of blood (see section 15). Bills of attainder 
were not uncommon during the troublous times of Eng¬ 
lish history, and even down to the time of the Revolution. 
The accused had little, if any, opportunity for making a 
defense. The injustice of this system of trial for crimes 
was so notorious that the fathers of the republic effect¬ 
ually provided against its practice in this country. An 
ex post facto law, (law made “after the fact”) cannot 
be passed. A law that increases a penalty of a crime 
cannot be made to apply to a crime that was committed 
before the passage of the law; a law defining a crime 
and making a penalty cannot apply to an act committed 
before the law was made. All can see that that rule of 
the bill of rights is a very just one. After a contract has 
been made, it is not just for the legislature to make any 
law that will set aside that contractor prevent its enforce¬ 
ment by either party. Thus, statutes limiting the time 
when actions may be brought to enforce contracts, can¬ 
not apply to contracts entered into before the law was 
passed. The remainder of the seotion means that the 
legislature cannot grant to railroads or to other corpora- 

8 


1 14 CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 

tions, any privileges that cannot be repealed or recalled 
at any time. 

Sec. 17. The military shall be in strict subordination to the 
civil power. 

The government of the state is exclusively a civil one, 
and the military organization is the creature of the civil 
authorities. The people have no rights under a military 
government; hence, in a government of the people, the 
military must be subject to the civil laws. , 

Sec. 18. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in 
any house without the consent of the owner; nor in time of war, 
except in the manner prescribed by law. 

This is another provision for the benefit and protection 
of the citizen, and is a departure from the laws of many 
European nations. 

Sec. 19. The right of the people peaceably to assemble to con¬ 
sult for the common good, and to petition the government or any 
department thereof, shall never be abridged. 

This section necessarily follows from the right of the 
people to govern themselves, and is a righteous guaranty 
of liberty. 

Sec. 20. No person shall be imprisoned for debt in any civil 
action on mesne or final process, unless in cases of fraud. 

Nearly all the states of the Union have abolished and 
prohibited imprisonment for debt, once so common, and 
this state does wisely to prohibit it altogether. Mesne 
means “ in between;” that is, any process before the final 
process, which is execution. As a fraud is accounted to 
be a crime, the imprisonment allowed in this section is 
really an imprisonment for a crime. 

Sec. 21. The property of no person shall be taken or damaged 
for public use without just compensation therefor. 

All governments have an inherent right to take and 
use private property for public purposes. This section 
restrains that right to the extent that the public must pay 
the just value of the property taken or damaged. Taking 


Constitution of the state. 


ii5 

land for railroads, roads, streets, school-houses, and other 
public buildings, are instances of such taking of private 
property for public use. 

Sec. 22. All elections shall be free; and there shall be no 
hindrance or impediment to the right of a qualified voter to exer¬ 
cise the elective franchise. 

This section prohibits any interference with voters. No 
one is allowed by any means, to keep a voter away from 
the polls against his will, and no law can be made which 
will operate to obstruct voters or to keep honest voters 
from the polls. But this does not mean that proper reg¬ 
ulations for registry and residence may not be made so as 
to keep fraudulent votes from the ballot box, and to in¬ 
sure that all actual voters shall have a proper interest in 
the result of the election. 

Sec. 23. The writ of error shall be a writ of right in all cases 
of felony; and in capital cases shall operate as a supersedeas to 
stay the execution of the sentence of death until the further order 
of the supreme court in the premises. 

A writ of error is the paper that informs the supreme 
court that an inferior court has committed an error. This 
section means that, if the accused thinks that the court 
that tried him has decided wrongfully, he has the right 
to take his case to the supreme court to have the wrong 
righted. A capital case is one where the sentence is 
death. When one sentenced to death goes to the supreme 
court by writ of error, he cannot be hanged till the court 
has decided his case. Supersedeas means “you will set 
aside, suspend, stay.” 

Sec. 24. The right to be heard, in all civil cases, in the court 
of last resort, by appeal error, or otherwise, shall not be denied. 

All this means that in all civil actions, in the courts, 
any one of the parties has the right to take his suit to 
the supreme court, by some method, either by appeal or 


ii 6 


CONSTITUTION OF TIIE STATE. 


by writ of error, if the legislature has provided no other 
method. 

Sec. 25. No distinction shall ever be made by law between 
resident aliens and citizens in reference to the possession, enjoy¬ 
ment, or descent of property. 

This is an unusual provision. It gives to immigrants, 
who have not become citizens nor declared their inten¬ 
tions to do so, the same right to hold and enjoy property, 
and to pass it to their relatives, that citizens, native-born, 
enjoy. This is found in very few of the states. 

Sec. 26. This enumeration of rights shall not be construed 
to impair or deny others retained by the people; and all powers 
not herein delegated remain with the people. 

This is a saving clause., so that if any rights, already 
enjoyed by the people of Nebraska, should not be included 
in this bill of rights, the omission will not deprive the 
people of them. The effect of the last clause of the 
section is, that the government of Nebraska is a very 
limited one. If no authority is given to the legislature, 
or to any officer to do any act, and if it is not absolutely 
necessary for the legislature or for the officer to do that 
act in order to carry out some authority that is expressly 
given, that act cannot be done. This is a great incon¬ 
venience in many instances, and yet it is a safeguard al¬ 
ways necessary, in some degree, in all representative 
governments. 

ARTICLE II—DISTRIBUTION OF ROWERS. 

Section 1. The powers of the government of this state are 
divided into three distinct departments; the legislative, executive, 
and judicial; and no person, or collection of persons, being one 
of these departments, shall exercise any power properly belonging 
to either of the others, except as hereinafter expressly directed 
or permitted. 

ARTICLE III—LEGISLATIVE. 

Section 1 . The legislative authority is vested in a senate and 
house of representatives. 

Sec. 2. The legislature shall provide by law for an enumera¬ 
tion of the inhabitants of the state in the year eighteen hundred 



CONSTITUTION OF TIIR STATE. 


117 


and eighty-five, and every ten years thereafter; and at its first 
regular session after each enumeration, and also after each enu¬ 
meration made by the authority of the United States, but at no 
other time, the legislature shall apportion the senators and repre¬ 
sentatives according to the number of inhabitants, excluding In¬ 
dians, not taxed, and soldiers and officers of the United States army 
and navy. 

Sec. 3. The house of representatives shall consist of eighty- 
four members, and the senate shall consist of thirty members/un¬ 
til the year eighteen hundred and eighty, after which time the 
number of members of each house shall be regulated by law; but 
the number of representatives shall never exceed one hundred, 
nor that of senators thirty-three. The sessions of the legislature 
shall be bi-ennial, except as otherwise provided in this constitution. 

Sec. 4. The term of office of members of the legislature shall 
be two years, and they shall each receive pay at the rate of five 
dollars per day during their sitting, and ten cents for every mile 
they shall travel in going to and returning from the place of meet¬ 
ing of the legislature, on the most usual route; provided, however, 
that they shall not receive pay for more than sixty days at any one 
sitting, nor more than one hundred days during their term. 

Sec. 5. No person shall be eligible to the office of senator or 
member of the house of representatives who shall not be an elector, 
and have resided within the district from which he is elected for 
the term of one year next before his election, unless he shall have 
been absent on the public business of the United States or of this 
state. And no person elected as aforesaid shall hold his office 
after he shall have removed from such district. 

Sec. 6. No person holding office under the authority of the 
United States, or any lucrative office under the authority of this 
state, shall be eligible to or have a seat in the legislature; but this 
provision shall not extend to precinct or township officers, justices 
of the peace, notaries public or officers of the militia; nor shall any 
person interested in a contract with, or an unadjusted claim 
against the state, hold a seat in the legislature. 

Sec. 7. The session of the legislature shall commence at t welve 
o’clock (noon) on the first, Tuesday in January, in the year next 
ensuing the election of the members thereof, and at no other time, 
unless as provided by this constitution. A majority of the mem¬ 
bers elected to each house shall constitute a quorum. Each house 
shall determine the rules of its proceedings, and be the judge of 
the election returns and qualifications of its members; shall choose 
its own officers; and the senate shall choose a temporary president 
to preside when the lieutenant-governor shall not attend as presi¬ 
dent or shall act as governor. The secretary of state shall call 
the house of representatives to order at the opening of each new 
legislature, and preside over it until a temporary presiding officer 
thereof shall have been chosen and shall have taken his seat. No 
member shall be expelled by either house, except by a vote of 


n8 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 


two-thirds of all the members elected to that house, and no mem¬ 
ber shall be twice expelled for the same offense. Each house 
may punish by imprisonment any person not a member thereof 
who shall be guilty of disrespect to the house, by disorderly or 
contemptuous behavior in its presence; but no such imprisonment 
shall extend beyond twenty-four hours at one time, unless the 
person shall persist in such disorder^ or contemptuous behavior. 

Sec. 8. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, 
and publish them (except such parts as may require secrecy), and 
the yeas and nays of the members on any question shall, at the 
desire of any two of them, be entered on the journal. All votes in 
either house shall be viva voce. The doors of each house and of 
the committee of the whole shall be open, unless when the busi¬ 
ness shall be such as ought to be kept secret. Neither house 
shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than 
three days. 

Sec. 9. Any bill may originate in either house of the legisla¬ 
ture, except bills appropriating money, which shall originate only 
in the house of representatives; and all bills passed by one house 
may be amended by the other. 

Sec. 10. The enacting clause of a law r shall be, “Be it enacted 
by the legislature of the state of Nebraska,” and no law shall be 
enacted except by bill. No bill shall be passed unless by assent 
of a majority of all the members elected to each house of the legis¬ 
lature. And the question upon the final passage shall be taken 
immediately upon its last reading, and the yeas and nays shall be 
entered upon the journal. 

Sec. 11. Every bill and concurrent resolution shall be read at 
large on three different days in each house, and the bill and all 
amendments thereto shall be printed before the vote is taken upon its 
final passage. No bill shall contain more than one subject, and the 
same shall be clearly expressed in its title. And no law shall be 
amended unless the new act contains the section or sections so 
amended, and the section or sections so amended shall be repealed. 
The presiding officer of each house shall sign in the presence of 
the house over which he presides, wdiile the same is in session and 
capable of transacting business, all bills and concurrent resolutions 
passed by the legislature. 

Sec. 12. Members of the legislature, in all cases except treason, 
felony, or breach of the peace, shall be privileged from arrest dur¬ 
ing the session of the legislature, and for fifteen days before the 
commencement and after the termination thereof. 

Sec. 13. No person elected to the legislature shall receive any 
civil appointment within this state, from the governor and senate, 
during the term for which he has been elected. And all such ap¬ 
pointments, and all votes given for any such member for any such 
office or appointment, shall be void. Nor shall any member of the 
legislature, or any state officer, be interested either directly or in¬ 
directly, in any contract with the state, county, or city, authorized 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. II 9 

by any law passed during the term for which he shall have been 
elected, or within one year after the expiration thereof. 

Sec. 14. The senate and house of representatives in joint con¬ 
vention shall have the sole power of impeachment, but a major¬ 
ity of the members elected must concur therein. Upon the 
entertainment of a resolution to impeach, by either house, the 
other house shall at once be notified thereof, and the two houses 
shall meet in joint convention for the purpose of acting upon such 
resolution, within three days of such notification. A notice of an 
impeachment of any officer, other than a justice of the supreme 
court, shall be forthwith served upon the chief justice by the 
secretary of the senate, who shall thereupon call a session of the 
supreme court to meet at the capital, within ten days after such 
notice, to try the impeachment. A notice of an impeachment of a 
justice of the supreme court shall be served by the secretary of 
the senate upon the judge of the judicial district within which the 
capital is located, and he thereupon shall notify all the judges of 
the district court in the state to meet with him within thirty days at 
the capital, to sit as a court to try such impeachment, which court 
shall organize by electing one of its number to preside. No person 
shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the 
members of the court of impeachment, but judgment in cases of 
impeachment sliall not extend further than removal from office 
and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, profit, or 
trust in this state; but the party impeached, whether convicted or 
acquitted, shall nevertheless be liable to prosecution and punish¬ 
ment according to law. No officer shall exercise his official 
duties after he shall have been impeached and notified thereof, 
until he shall have been acquitted. 

Sec. 15. The legislature shall not pass local or special laws 
in any of the following cases, that is to say: 

For granting divorces. 

Changing the names of persons and places. 

Laying out, opening, altering, and working roads or highways. 

Vacating roads, town plats, streets, alleys, and public grounds. 

Locating or changing county seats. 

Regulating county and township offices. 

Regulating the practice of courts of justice. 

Regulating the jurisdiction and duties of justices of the peace, 
police magistrates and constables. 

Providing for changes of venue in civil and criminal cases. 

Incorporating cities, towns, and villages, or changing or amend¬ 
ing the charter of any town, city, or village. 

Providing for the election of officers in townships, incorporated 
towns, or cities. 

Summoning or empaneling grand or petit juries. 

Providing for the bonding of cities, towns, precincts, school 
districts, or other municipalities. 

Providing for the management of public schools. 


120 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 



Regulating the interest on money. 

The opening and conducting of any election, or designating the 
place of voting. 

The sale or mortgage of real estate belonging to minors or others 
under disability. 

The protection of game or fish. 

Chartering or licensing ferries or toll bridges. 

Remitting fines, penalties, or forfeitures. 

Creating, increasing, and decreasing fees, percentage, or allow¬ 
ances of public officers, during the term for which said officers are 
elected or appointed. 

Changing the law of descent. 

Granting to any corporation, association, or individual, the right 
to lay down railroad tracks, or amending existing charters for such 
purpose. 

Granting to any corporation, association, or individual, any 
special or exclusive privileges, immunity, or franchise whatever. 
In all other cases where a general law can be made applicable, no 
special law shall be enacted. 

Sec. 16. The legislature shall never grant any extra compensa¬ 
tion to any public officer, agent, servant, or contractor, after the 
services shall have been rendered, or the contract entered into. 
Nor shall the compensation of any public officer be increased or 
diminished during his term of office. 

Sec. 17. The legislature shall never alienate the salt springs 
belonging to this state. 

Sec. 18. Lands under control of the state shall never be donated 
to railroad companies, private corporations, or individuals. 

Sec. 19. Each legislature shall make appropriations for the ex¬ 
penses of the government until the expiration of the first fiscal 
quarter after the adjournment of the next regular session, and all 
appropriations shall end with such fiscal quarter. And whenever 
it is deemed necessary to make further appropriations for defici¬ 
encies, the same shall require a two-thirds vote of all the members 
elected to each house, and shall not exceed the amount of revenue 
authorized by law to be raised in such time. Bills making appro¬ 
priations for the pay of members and officers of the legislature, 
and for the salaries of the officers of the government, shall contaiu 
no provisions on any other subject. 

Sec. 20. All offices created by this constitution shall become 
vacant by the death of the incumbent, by removal from the state, 
resignation, conviction of a felony, impeachment, or becoming of 
unsound mind. And the legislature shall provide by general law 
for the filling of such vacancy when no provision is made for that 
purpose in this constitution. 

Sec. 21. The legislature shall not authorize any games of 
chance, lotterjq or gift enterprise, under any pretense, or for any 
purpose whatever. 




CONSTITUTION OF TIIE STATE. 


I 2 I 


Sec. 22. No allowance shall be made for the incidental ex¬ 
penses of any state officer, except the same be made by general ap¬ 
propriation, and upon an account specifying each item. No money 
shall be drawn from the treasury, except in pursuance of a specific 
appropriation made by law, and on the presentation of a warrant 
issued by the auditor thereon, and no money shall be diverted 
from any appropriation made for any purpose, or taken from any 
fund whatever, either by joint or separate resolution. The auditor 
shall, within sixty days after the adjournment of each session of 
the legislature, prepare and publish a full statement of all moneys 
expended at such session, specifying the amount of each item, and 
to whom and for what paid. 

Sec. 23. No member of the legislature shall be liable in any 
civil or criminal action whatever for words spoken in debate. 

Sec. 24. No act shall take effect until three calendar months 
after the adjournment of the session at which it passed, unless in 
case of emergency (to be expressed in the preamble or body of the 
act) the legislature shall, by a vote of two thirds of all the members 
elected to each house, otherwise direct. All laws shall be pub¬ 
lished in book form within sixty days after the adjournment of 
each session, and distributed among the several counties in such 
manner as the legislature may provide. 

AUTICIiE IV.—LEGISLATIVE APPORTIONMENT. 

(Article iv. divided tlie state into legislative districts and apportioned the 
members of the senate and house. A new apportionment was made in 1881, 
hence this article is omitted.) 

ARTICLE V.—EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 

Section 1. The executive department shall consist of a gov¬ 
ernor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, auditor of public ac¬ 
counts, treasurer, superintendent of public instruction, attorney- 
general, and commissioner of public lands and buildings, who shall 
each hold his office for the term of two years, from the first Thurs¬ 
day after the first Tuesday in January next after his election, and 
until his successor is elected and qualified: Provided, however , that 
the first election of said officers shall be held on the Tuesday suc¬ 
ceeding the first Monday in November, 1876, and each succeeding 
election shall be held at the same relative time in each even year 
thereafter. The governor, secretary of state, auditor of public ac¬ 
counts, and treasurer, shall reside at the seat of government dur¬ 
ing their terms of office, and keep the public records, books, and 
papers there, and shall perform such duties as may be required 
by law. 

Sec. 2. No person shall be eligible to the office of governor, or 
lieutenant-governor, who shall not have attained the age of thirty 
years, and been for two years next preceding his election a citizen 
of the United States and of this state. None of the officers of the 
executive department shall be eligible to any other state office dur¬ 
ing the period for which they shall have been elected. 


0 


122 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 


Sec. 3. The treasurer shall be ineligible to the office of treasurer 
, for two years next after the expiration of two consecutive terms for 
which he was elected. 

Sec. 4. The returns of every election for the officers of the 
executive department shall be sealed up and transmitted by the re¬ 
turning officers to the secretary of state directed to the speaker of 
the house of representatives, who shall, immediately after the or¬ 
ganization of the house, and before proceeding to other business, 
open and publish the same in the presence of a majority of each 
house of the legislature, who shall, for that purpose, assemble in 
the hall of the house of representatives. The person having the 
highest number of votes for either of said offices shall be declared 
duly elected; but if two or more have an equal and the highest 
number of votes, the legislature shall, by joint vote, choose one of 
such persons for said office. Contested elections for all of said 
offices shall be determined by both houses of the legislature, by 
joint vote in such manner as may be prescribed by law. 

Sec. 5. All civil officers of this state shall be liable to impeach¬ 
ment for any misdemeanor in office. 

Sec. 6. The supreme executive power shall be vested in the 
governor, who shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed. 

Sec. 7. The governor shall, at the commencement of each ses¬ 
sion, and at the close of his term of office, and whenever the legis¬ 
lature may require, give to the legislature information by message 
of the condition of the state, and shall recommend such measures 
as he shall deem expedient. He shall account to the legislature, 
and accompany his message with a statement of all moneys received 
and paid out by him from any funds subject to his order, with 
vouchers, and, at the commencement of each regular session, 
present estimates of the amount of money required to be raised by 
taxation for all purposes. 

Sec. 8. The governor may, on extraordinary occasions, convene 
the legislature by proclamation, stating therein the purpose for 
which they are convened, and the legislature shall enter upon no 
business except that for which they were called together. 

Sec. 9. In case of a disagreement between the two houses, with 
respect to the time of adjournment, the governor may, on the same 
being certified to him by the house first moving the adjournment, 
adjourn the legislature to such time as he thinks proper, not 
beyond the first day of the next regular session. 

Sec. 10. The governor shall nominate and, by and with the ad¬ 
vice and consent of the senate (expressed by a majority of all the 
senators elected voting by yeas and nays), appoint all officers whose 
offices are established by this constitution, or which may be created 
by law, and whose appointment and election is not otherwise by 
law T or herein provided for; and no such officer shall be appointed 
or elected by the legislature. 

Sec. 11. In case of a vacancy during the recess of the senate, 
in any office which is not elective, the governor shall make a tern- 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 


123 


porary appointment until the next meeting of the senate, when he 
shall nominate some person to fill such office; and any person so 
nominated, who is confirmed by the senate, (a majority of all the 
senators elected concurring by voting yeas and nays), shall hold his 
office during the remainder of the term, and until his successor 
shall be appointed and qualified: No person, after being rejected 
by the senate, shall be again nominated for the same office at the 
same session, unless at request of the senate, or be appointed to the 
same office during the recess of the legislature. 

Sec. 12. The governor shall have power to remove any officer 
whom he may appoint, in case of incompetency, neglect of duty, 
or malfeasance in office; and he may declare his office vacant, and 
fill the same as herein provided in other cases of vacancy. 

Sec. 13. The governor shall have the power to grant reprieves, 
commutations, and pardons, after conviction, for all offenses except 
treason and cases of impeachment, upon snch conditions and with 
such restrictions and limitations as he may think proper, subject to 
such regulations as may be provided by law relative to the manner 
of applying for pardons. Upon conviction for treason, he shall 
have power to suspend the execution of the sentence until the case 
shall be reported to the legislature at its next session, when the 
legislature shall either pardon or commute the sentence, direct the 
execution of the sentence, or grant a further reprieve. He shall 
communicate to the legislature, at every regular session, each case 
of reprieve, commutation or pardon granted, stating the name of 
the convict, the crime of which he was convicted, the sentence and 
its date, and the date of the reprieve, commutation or pardon. 

Sec. 14. The governor shall be commander-in-chief of the mil¬ 
itary and naval forces of the state (except when - they shall be 
called into the service of the United States), and may call out the 
same to execute the laws, suppress insurrection, and repel invasion. 

Sec. 15. Every bill passed by the legislature, before it becomes 
a law, and every order, resolution, or vote, to which the concur¬ 
rence of both houses may be necessary (except on questions of 
adjournment), shall be presented to the governor. If he approve, 
he shall sign it, and thereupon it shall become a law; but if he do 
not approve, he shall return it with his objections to the house in 
which it shall have originated, which house shall enter the objec¬ 
tions at large upon its journal, and proceed to reconsider the bill. 
If then three-fifths of the members elected agree to pass the same, 
it shall be sent, together with the objection, to the other house, by 
which it shall likewise be reconsidered; and if approved by three- 
fifths of the members elected to that house, it shall become a law, 
notwithstanding the objections of the governor. In all such cases, 
the vote of each house shall be determined by yeas and nays, to be 
entered upon the journal. Any bill which shall not be returned 
by the governor within five days (Sundays excepted), after it shall 
have been presented to him, shall become a law in like manner as 
if he had signed it, unless the legislature, by their adjournment 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 


124 


prevent its return; in which case it shall be filed, with his objec¬ 
tions, in the office of the secretary of state, within five days after 
such adjournment, or become a law. The governor may disap¬ 
prove any item or items of appropriation contained in bills passed 
by the legislature, and the item or items so disapproved shall be 
stricken therefrom, unless re-passed in the manner herein de¬ 
scribed in case of disapproval of bills. 

Sec. 16. In case of the death, impeachment and notice thereof 
to the accused, failure to qualify, resignation, absence from the 
state, or other disability of the governor, the powers, duties and 
emoluments of the office, for the residue of the term, or until the 
disability shall be removed, shall devolve upon the lieutenant- 
governor. 

Sec. 17. The lieutenant-governor shall be president of the sen¬ 
ate and shall vote only when the senate is equally divided. 

Sec. 18. If there be no lieutenant-governor, or if the lieutenant- 
governor, for any of the causes specified in section sixteen of this 
article, become incapable of performing the duties of the office, 
the president of the senate shall act as governor until the vacancy 
is filled, or the disability removed; and if the president of the 
senate, for any of the above-named causes, shall become incapable 
of performing the duties of governor, the same shall devolve upon 
the speaker of the house of representatives. 

Sec. 19. The commissioner of public lands and buildings, the 
secretary of state, treasurer, and attorney-general shall form a 
board, which shall have general supervision and control of all the 
buildings, grounds, and lands of the state, the state prison, asylums, 
and all other institutions thereof, except those for educational 
purposes; and shall perform such duties and be subject to such 
rules and regulations as may be prescribed by law. 

Sec. 20. If the office of auditor of public accounts, treasurer, 
secretary of state, attorney-general, commissioner of public lands 
and buildings, or superintendent of public instruction, shall be 
vacated by death, resignation, or otherwise, it shall be the duty of 
the governor to fill the same by appointment; and the appointee 
shall hold his office until his successor shall be elected and quali¬ 
fied in such manner as may be provided by law. 

Sec. 21. An account shall be kept by the officers of the execu¬ 
tive department, and of all the public institutions of the state, of 
all moneys received or disbursed by them severally from all 
sources, and for every service performed, and a semi-annual report 
thereof be made to the governor, under oath; and any officer who 
makes a false report shall be guilty of perjury and punished 
accordingly. 

Sec. 22. The officers of the executive department and of all the 
public institutions of the state, shall, at least ten days preceding 
each regular session of the legislature, severally report to the gov¬ 
ernor, who shall transmit such reports to the legislature, together 
with the reports of the judges of the supreme court, of the defects 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 


I2 5 


in the constitution and laws, and the governor or either house of 
the legislature may at any time require information in writing, 
under oath, from the officers of the executive department, and all 
officers and managers of the state institutions, upon any subject 
relating to the condition, management, and expenses of their 
respective offices. 

Sec. 2d. There shall be a seal of the state, which shall be called 
the “Great Seal of the State of Nebraska,” which shall be kept by 
the secretary of state, and used by him officially, as directed by 
law. 

Sec. 24. The salaries of the governor, auditor of public ac¬ 
counts, and treasurer, shall be two thousand five hundred dollars 
($2,500) each, per annum, and of the secretary of state, attorney- 
general, superintendent of public instruction, and commissioner 
of public lands and buildings, two thousand dollars ($2,000) each, 
per annum. The lieutenant-governor shall receive twice the com¬ 
pensation of a senator, and after the adoption of this constitution 
they shall not receive to their own use any fees, costs, interest 
upon public moneys in their hands or under their control, perqui¬ 
sites of office or other compensation, and all fees that may here¬ 
after be payable by law for services performed by any officer, 
provided for in this article of the constitution, shall be paid in 
advance into the state treasury. There shall be no allowance for 
clerk hire in the olfices of the superintendent of public instruction 
and attorney-general. 

Sec. 25. The officers mentioned in this article shall give bonds 
in not less than double the amount of money that may come into 
their hands, and in no case in less than the sum of fifty thousand 
dollars, with such provisions as to sureties and the approval thereof, 
and for the increase of the penalty of such bonds, as may be pre¬ 
scribed by law. 

Sec. 2(5. No other executive state office shall be continued or 
created, and the duties now devolving upon officers not provided 
for by this constitution shall be performed by the officers herein 
created. 

ARTICLE VI.—THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 

Section 1. The judicial power of this sfate shall be vested in a 
supreme court, district courts, county courts, justices of the peace, 
police magistrates, and in such other courts inferior to the district 
courts as may be created by law for cities and incorporated towns. 

Sec. 2. The supreme court shall consist of three judges, a ma¬ 
jority of whom shall be necessary to form a quorum or to pro¬ 
nounce a decision. It shall have original jurisdiction in cases 
relating to the revenue, civil cases in which the state shall be a 
party, mandamus, quo warranto, habeas corpus, and such appellate 
jurisdiction as may be provided by law. 

Sec. 3. At least two terms of the supreme court shall be held 
each year at the seat of government. 


126 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 


Sec. 4. The judges of the supreme court shall be elected by the 
electors of the state at large, and their terms of office, except of 
those chosen at the first election, as hereinafter provided, shall be 
six yeqxs. 

Sec. 5. The judges of the supreme court shall immediately 
after the first election under this constitution, be classified by lot 
so that one shall hold his office for the term of two years, one for 
the term of four years, and one for the term of six years. 

Sec. 6. The judge of the supreme court having the shortest term 
to serve, not holding his office by appointment or election to fill 
a vacancy, shall be the chief justice, and as such shall preside at 
all terms of the supreme court; and, in case of his absence, the 
judge having in like manner the next shortest term to serve, shall 
preside in his stead. 

Sec. 7. No person shall be eligible to the office of judge of the 
supreme court unless he shall be at least thirty years of age, and a 
citizen of the United States; nor unless he shall have resided in 
this state at least three years next preceding his election. 

Sec. 8. There shall be appointed by the supreme court a re¬ 
porter, who shall also act as clerk of the supreme court, and librarian 
of the law and miscellaneous library of the state, whose term of 
office shall be four years, unless sooner removed by the court, whose 
salary shall be fixed by law, not to exceed fifteen hundred dollars 
per annum. The copyright of the state reports shall forever belong 
to the state. 

Sec. 9. The district courts shall have both chancery and com¬ 
mon law jurisdiction, and such other jurisdiction as the legislature 
may provide, and the judges thereof may admit persons charged 
with felony to a plea of guilty, and pass such sentence as may be 
prescribed by law. 

Sec. 10. The state shall be divided into six judicial districts, in 
each of which shall be elected by the electors thereof, one judge, 
who shall be judge of the district court therein, and whose term of 
office shall be four years. 

Unless otherwise provided by law, said districts shall be as fol¬ 
lows: 

(This section divided the state into six judicial districts. A new division 
was made in 1883 hence the omission of the balance of this section.) 

Sec. 11. The legislature, whenever two thirds of the members 
elected to each house shall concur therein, may, in or after the 
year one thousand eight hundred and eighty, and not oftener than 
once in every four years, increase the number of judges of the 
district courts, and the judicial districts of the state. Such districts 
shall be formed of compact territory, and bounded by county lines; 
and such increase, or any change in the boundaries "of a district, 
shall not vacate the office of any judge. 

Sec. 12. The judges of the district courts may hold courts for 
each other, and shall do so when required by law. 

Sec. 13. The judges of the supreme and district courts shall 
each receive a salary of $2,500 per annum, payable quarterly. 


CONSTITUTION OF TIIE STATE. 


127 


Sec. 14. No judge of the supreme or district courts shall re¬ 
ceive any other compensation, perquisite, or benefit for or on ac¬ 
count of his office in any form whatever; nor act as attorney or 
counsellor-at-law in any manner whatever; nor shall any salary be 
paid to any county judge. 

Sec. 15. There shall be elected in aud for each organized 
county, one judge, who shall be judge of the county court of such 
county, and whose term of office shall be two years. 

Sec. 16. County courts shall be courts of record, and shall have 
original jurisdiction in all matters of probate, settlements of estates 
of deceased persons, appointment of guardians, and settlement of 
their accounts; in all matters relating to apprentices; and such 
other jurisdiction as may be given by general law. But they shall 
not have jurisdiction in criminal cases in which the punishment 
may exceed six months' imprisonment, ora fine of over five hun¬ 
dred dollars; nor in actions in which title to real estate is 
sought to be recovered, or may be drawn in question; nor in actions 
on mortgages or contracts for the conveyance of real estate; nor in 
civil actions, where the debt or sum claimed shall exceed one 
thousand dollars. 

Sec. 17. Appeals to the district courts from the judgments of 
county courts shall be allowed in all criminal cases, 011 application 
of the defendant; and in all civil cases, on application of either 
party, and in such other cases as may be provided by law. 

Sec. 18. Justices of the peace and police magistrates shall be 
elected in and for such districts, and have and exercise such juris¬ 
diction as may be provided by law; Provided , that no justice of the 
peace shall have jurisdiction of any civil case where the amount in 
controversy shall exceed two hundred dollars; nor in a criminal 
case where the punishment may exceed three months’ imprison¬ 
ment, or a fine of over one hundred dollars; nor in any matter 
wdierein the title or boundaries of land may be in dispute. 

Sec. 11). All laws relating to courts shall be general and of uni¬ 
form operation, and the organization, jurisdiction, powers, proceed¬ 
ings, and practice of all courts of the'samo class or grade, so far as 
regulated by law, and the force and effect of the proceedings, 
judgments, and decrees of such courts, severally shall be uniform. 

Sec. 20. All officers provided for in this article shall hold their 
offices until their successors shall be qualified, and they shall re¬ 
spectively reside in the district, county, or precinct for w hich they 
shall be elected or appointed. The terms of office of all such offi¬ 
cers, when not otherwise prescribed in this article, shall be two 
years. All officers, when not otherwise provided for in this article, 
shall perform such duties and receive such compensation as may 
be provided by law. 

Sec. 21. In case the office of any judge of the supreme court, 
or of any district court, shall become vacant before the expiration 
of the regular term for which he was elected, the vacancy shall be 
filled by appointment by the governor, until a successor shall be 


128 


CONSTITUTION OF THR STATE. 


elected and qualified, and such successor shall be elected for the 
unexpired term at the first general election that occurs more than 
thirty days after the vacancy shall have happened. Vacancies in 
all other elective offices provided for in this article, shall be filled 
by election, but when the unexpired term does not exceed one 
year, the vacancy may be filled by appointment, in such manner as 
the legislature may provide. 

e c. 22. The state may sue and be sued, and the legislature 
shall provide by law in what manner and in what courts suit shall 
be brought. 

Sec. 23. The several judges of the courts of record shall have 
such jurisdiction at chambers as may be provided by law. 

Sec. 24. All process shall run in the name of “The State of 
Nebraska,” and all prosecutions shall be carried on in the name of 
“The State of Nebraska.” 

ARTICLE VII.—RIGHTS OF SUFFRAGE. 

Section 1. Every male person of the age of twenty-one years 
or upwards, belonging to either of the following classes, who shall 
have resided in the state six months, and in the county, precinct or 
ward, for the term provided by law, shall be an elector: 

First —Citizens of the United States; 

Second —Persons of foreign birth who shall have declared their 
intention to become citizens conformably to the laws of the United 
States on the subject of naturalization, at least thirty days prior to 
an election. 

Sec. 2. No person shall be qualified to vote who is non compos 
mentis , or who has been convicted of treason or felony under the 
law of the state, or of the United States, unless restored to civil 
rights. 

Sec. 3. Every elector in the actual military service of the United 
States, or of this state, arid not in the regular army, may exercise 
the right of suffrage at such place and under such regulations as 
may be provided by law. 

Sec. 4. No soldier, seaman or marine in the army and navy of 
the United States, shall be deemed a resident of the state inconse¬ 
quence of being stationed therein. 

Sec. 5. Electors shall, in all cases except treason, felony or 
breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attend¬ 
ance at elections and going to and returning from the same, and 
no elector shall be obliged to do military duty on the days of elec¬ 
tion, except in time of war and public danger. 

Sec. 6. All votes shall be by ballot. 

ARTICLE VIII—EDUCATION. 

Section 1. The governor, secretary of state, treasurer, attor¬ 
ney-general, and commissioner of public lands and buildings, shall, 
under the direction of the legislature, constitute a board of com¬ 
missioners for the sale, leasing, and general management of all 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 




I2 9 


lands and funds set apart for educational purposes, and for the 
investment of school funds in such manner as may be prescribed 
by law. 

Sec. 2. All lands, money or other property, granted or be¬ 
queathed, or in any manner conveyed to this state for educational 
purposes, shall be used and expended in accordance with the terms 
of such grant, bequest or conveyance. 

Sec. 3. The following are hereby declared to be perpetual 
funds for common school purposes, of which the annual interest 
or income only can be appropriated, to-wit: 

First —Such per centum as has been or may hereafter be granted 
by congress on the sale of lands in this state; 

Second —All moneys arising from the sale or leasing of sections 
number sixteen and thirty-six in each township in this state, and 
the lands selected or that may be selected in lieu thereof; 

Third —The proceeds of all lands that have been or may here¬ 
after be granted to this state, where, by the terms and conditions 
of such grant, the same are not to be otherwise appropriated; 

Fourth —The net proceeds of lands and other property and ef¬ 
fects that may come to the state by escheat or forfeiture, or from 
unclaimed dividends or distributive shares of the estates of de¬ 
ceased persons; 

Fifth —All moneys, stocks, bonds, lands and other property, now 
belonging to the coVnmon school fund. 

Sec. 4. All other grants, gifts and devises that have been or may 
hereafter be made to this state, and not otherwise appropriated by 
the terms of the grant, gift, or devise; the interest arising from all 
the funds mentioned in the preceding section, together with all the 
rents of the unsold school lands, and such other means as the leg¬ 
islature may provide, shall be exclusively applied to the support 
and maintenance of common schools in each school district in the 
state. 

Sec. 5. All fines, penalties, and license moneys arising under 
the general laws of the state, shall belong and be paid over to the 
counties respectively where the same may be levied or imposed; 
and all fines, penalties, and license moneys arising under the rules, 
by-laws, or ordinances of cities, villages, towns, precincts or other 
municipal sub divisions less than a county, shall belong and be 
paid over to the same respectively. All such fines, penalties, and 
license moneys shall be appropriated exclusively to the use and 
support of common schools in the respective sub-divisions where 
the same may accrue. 

Sec. G. The legislature shall provide for the free instruction in 
the common schools of this state of all persons between the ages of 
five and twenty-one years. 

Sec. 7. Provisions shall be made by general law for an equitable 
distribution of the income of the fund set apart for the support of 
the common schools, among the several school districts of the state, 

10 


130 


CONSTITUTION OF THE* STATE. 


and no appropriation shall be made from said fund to any district 
for the year in which school is not maintained at least three 
months. 

Sec. 8. University, agricultural college, common school, or 
other lands, which are now held or may hereafter be acquired by 
the state for educational purposes, shall not be sold for less than 
seven dollars per acre, nor less than the appraised value. 

Sec. 9. All funds belonging to the state for educational pur¬ 
poses, the interest and income whereof only are to be used, shall 
be deemed trust funds held by the state, and the state shall supply 
all losses thereof that may in any manner accrue, so that the same 
shall remain forever inviolate and undiminished; and shall not be 
invested or loaned except on United States or state securities, or 
registered county bonds of this state; and such funds, with interest 
and income thereof, are hereby solemnly pledged for the purposes 
for which they are granted and set apart, and shall not be trans¬ 
ferred to any other fund for other uses. 

Sec. 10. The general government of the university of Nebraska 
shall, under the direction of the legislature, be vested in a board of 
six regents, to be styled the board of regents of the university of 
Nebraska, who shall be elected by the electors of the state at large, 
and their term of office, except those chosen at the first election, 
as hereinafter provided, shall be six years. Their duties and 
powers shall be prescribed by law; and they shall receive no com¬ 
pensation, but may be reimbursed their actual expenses incurred 
in the discharge of their duties. 

Sec. 11. No sectarian instruction shall be allowed in any school 
or institution supported in whole or in part by the public funds set 
apart for educational purposes; nor shall the state accept an}* grant, 
conveyance, or bequest of money, lands, or other property, to be 
used for sectarian purposes. 

Sec. 12. The legislature may provide by law for the establish¬ 
ment of a school or schools for the safe keeping, education, em¬ 
ployment, and reformation of all children under the age of sixteen 
years, who, for want of proper parental care, or other cause, are 
growing up in mendicancy or crime. 

ARTICLE IX.—REVENUE AND FINANCE. 

Section 1 . The legislature shall provide such revenue as may 
be needful, by levying a tax by valuation, so that every person and 
corporation shall pay a tax in proportion to the value of his, her, 
or its property and franchises, the value to be ascertained in such 
manner as the legislature shall direct, and it shall have power to 
tax peddlers, auctioneers, brokers, hawkers, commission merchants, 
showmen, jugglers, innkeepers, liquor dealers, toll bridges, ferries’, 
insurance, telegraph and express interests or business, venders of 
patents, in such manner as it shall direct by general law, uniform 
as to the class upon which it operates. 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 


I 


Sec. 2 .' The property of the state, counties, and municipal cor¬ 
porations, both real and personal, shall be exempt from taxation; 
and such other property as may be used exclusively for agricultural 
and horticultural societies, for school, religious', cemetery, and 
charitable purposes, may be exempted from taxation, but such ex¬ 
emption shall be only by general law. In the assessment of real 
-estate encumbered by public easement, any depreciation occasioned 
by such easement may be deducted in the valuation of such prop¬ 
erty. The legislature may provide that the increased value of 
lands, by reason of live fences, fruit and forest trees grown and 
•cultivated thereon, shall not be taken into account in the assess¬ 
ment thereof. 

Sec. 3. The right of redemption from all sales of real estate, for 
the non-payment of taxes or special assessment of any character 
whatever, shall exist in favor of owners and persons interested in 
such real estate for a period of not less than two years from such 
•sales thereof; Provided, that occupants shall in all cases be served 
with personal notice before the time of redemption expires. 

Sec. 4. The legislature shall have no power to release or dis¬ 
charge any county, city, township, town, or district whatever, or 
the inhabitants thereof, or any corporation, or the property therein, 
from their or its proportionate share of taxes to be levied for state 
purposes, or due any municipal corporation, nor shall commuta¬ 
tion for such taxes be authorized in any form whatever. 

Sec. 5. County authorities shall never assess taxes the aggre¬ 
gate of which shall exceed one and a half dollars per one hundred 
dollars valuation, except for the payment of indebtedness existing 
at the adoption of this constitution, unless authorized by a vote of 
the people of the county. 

Sec. 6 . The legislature may vest the corporate authorities of 
cities, towns and villages with power to make local improvements 
by special assessments, or by special taxation of property benefited. 
For all other corporate purposes, all municipal corporations may 
be vested with authority to assess and collect taxes, but such taxes 
shall be uniform in respect to persons and property within the 
jurisdiction of the body imposing the same. 

Sec. 7. Private property shall not be liable to be taken or sold 
for the payment of the corporate debts of municipal corporations. 
The legislature shall not impose taxes upon municipal corpora¬ 
tions, or the inhabitants or property thereof, for corporate pur¬ 
poses. • 

Sec. 8. The legislature, at its first session, shall provide a law 
for the funding of all outstanding warrants and other indebtedness 
of the state, at a rate of interest not exceeding eight per cent per 
annum. 

Sec. 9. The legislature shall provide by law that all claims 
upon the treasury shall be examined and adjusted by the auditor 
and approved by the secretary of state before any warrant for the 


T 3 2 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 


amount allowed shall he drawn. Provided, that a party aggrieved 
by the decision of the auditor and secretary of state may appeal to- 
the district court. 

ARTICLE X—COUNTIES. 

Section 1. No new county shall be formed or established by 
the legislature which will reduce the county or counties, or either 
of them, to a less area than four hundred square miles, nor shall 
any county be formed of a less area. 

Sec. 2. No county shall be divided, or have any part stricken 
therefrom, without first submitting the question to a vote of the 
people of the county, nor unless a majority of all the legal voters 
of the county voting on the question shall vote for the same. 

Sec. 3. There shall be no territory stricken from any organized 
county unless a majority of the voters living in such territory shall 
petition for such division, and no territory shall be added to any 
organized county without the consent of the majoritj 7 of the voters 
of the county to which it is proposed to be added; but the portion 
so stricken off and added to another county, or formed in whole, 
or in part, into a new county, shall be holden for and obliged to 
pay its proportion of the indebtedness of the counties from which 
it has been taken. 

Sec. 4. The legislature shall provide by law for the election of 
such county and township officers as may be necessary. (_ 

Sec. 5. The legislature shall provide by general law for town¬ 
ship organization, under which any county may organize, when¬ 
ever a majority of the legal voters of such county, voting at any 
general election, shall so determine; and, in any county that shall 
have adopted a township organization, the question Of continuing 
the same may be submitted to a vote of the electors of such county 
at a general election in a manner that shall be provided by law. 

ARTICLE XI—CORPORATIONS.* 

RAILROAD CORPORATIONS. 

Section 1 . Every railroad corporation organized or doing busi¬ 
ness in this state, under the laws or authority thereof, or of an} 7- 
other state, or of the United States, shall have and maintain a pub¬ 
lic office or place in this state for the transaction of its business, 
where transfers of stock shall be made, and in which shall be 
kept, for public inspection, books in which shall be recorded the 
amount of capital stock subscribed, and by wTiom, the names of 
the owners of its stock and the amounts owned by them respect¬ 
ively, the amount of stock paid in, and by whom, the transfers of 
said stock, the amount of its assets and liabilities, and the names 
and places of residence of its officers. The directors of every 
railroad corporation, or other parties having control of its road, 
shall annually make a report, under oath, to the auditor of public 
accounts, or some officer to be designated by law, of the amount 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 


I n n 
00 

received from passengers and freight, and such other matters re¬ 
lating to railroads as may be prescribed by law. And the legisla¬ 
ture shall pass laws enforcing by suitable penalties the provisions 
of this section. 

Sec. 2. The rolling stock and all other movable property be¬ 
longing to any railroad company or corporation in this state, shall 
be liable to execution and sale in the same manner as the personal 
property of individuals, and the legislature shall pass no law ex¬ 
empting any such property from execution and sale. 

Sec. 3. No railroad corporation or telegraph company shall 
consolidate its stock, property, franchises, or earnings, in whole or 
in part, with any other railroad corporation or telegraph company 
owning a parallel or competing line; and in no case shall any con¬ 
solidation take place, except upon public notice of at least sixty 
days to all stock holders in such manner as may be provided by 
law. 

Sec. 4. Railways heretofore constructed, or that may hereafter 
be constructed in this state, are hereby declared public highways, 
aud shall be free to all persons for the transportation of their per¬ 
sons and property thereon, under such regulations as may be pre¬ 
scribed by law. And the legislature may, from time to time, pass 
laws establishing reasonable maximum rates of charges for the 
transportation of passengers and freight on the different railroads 
in this state. The liability of railroad corporations as common 
carriers shall never be limited. 

Sec. 5. No railroad corporation shall issue any stock or fronds, 
except for money, labor, or property actually received and applied 
to the purposes for which such corporation was created, and all 
stock, dividends, and other fictitious increase of. the capital stock 
or indebtedness of any such corporation shall be void. The capital 
stock of railroad corporations shall not be increased for any pur¬ 
pose, except after public notice of sixty days, in such manner as 
may be provided by law. 

Sec. 6. The exercise of the power and the right of eminent do¬ 
main shall never be so construed or abridged as to prevent the 
taking, by the legislature, of the property aud franchises of incor¬ 
porated companies already organized or hereafter to be organized, 
aud subjecting them to the public necessity, the same as of indi¬ 
viduals. 

Sec. 7. The legislature shall pass laws to correct abuses and 
prevent unjust discrimination and extortion in all charges of ex¬ 
press, telegraph, and railroad companies in this state, and enforce 
such laws by adequate penalties, to the extent, if necessary for that 
purpose, of forfeiture of their property and franchises. 

Sec. 8 . No railroad corporation organized under the laws of any 
other state, or of the United States, and doing business in this 
state, shall be entitled to exercise the right of eminent domain, or 
have power to acquire the right of way or real estate for depot or 


*34 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 


other uses, until it shall have become a body corporate pursuant to 
and in accordance with the laws of this state. 

MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS. 

Section 1 . No city, county, town, precinct, municipality, or 
other sub-division of the state, shall ever become a subscriber to 
the capital stock, or owner of such stock, or any portion or interest 
therein, of any railroad or private corporation or association. 

MISCELLANEOUS CORPORATIONS. 

Section 1. No corporation shall be created by special law, nor 
its charter extended, changed, or amended, except those for chari¬ 
table, educational, penal, or reformatory purposes, which are to be 
and remain under the patronage and control of the state, but the 
legislature shall provide by general laws for the organization of 
all corporations hereafter to be created. All general laws passed 
pursuant to this section may be altered from time to time, or re¬ 
pealed. 

Sec. 2. No such general law shall be passed by the legislature,, 
granting the right to construct and operate a street railroad within 
any city, town, or incorporated village, without first requiring the 
consent of a majority of the electors thereof. 

Sec. 3. All corporations may sue and be sued in like cases as 
natural persons. 

Sec. 4. In all cases of claims against corporations and joint- 
stock associations, the exact amount justly due shall be first ascer¬ 
tained, and after the corporate property shall have been exhausted,, 
the original subscribers thereof shall be individually liable to the 
extent of their unpaid subscription, and the liability for the unpaid 
subscription shall follow the stock. 

Sec. 5. The legislature shall provide by law that in all elections 
for directors or managers of incorporated companies, every stock¬ 
holder shall have the right to vote in person or by proxy for the 
number of shares of stock owned by him, for as many persons as. 
there are directors or managers to be elected, or to cumulate said 
shares and give one candidate as many votes as the number of di¬ 
rectors multiplied by the number of his shares of stock shall equal,, 
or to distribute them upon the same principal among as many can¬ 
didates as he shall think fit; and such directors or managers shall 
not be elected in any other manner. 

Sec. 6. All existing charters or grants of special or exclusive 
privileges under which organization shall not have taken place, or 
which shall not be in operation within sixty days from the time 
this constitution takes effect, shall thereafter have no validity or 
effect whatever. 

Sec. 7. Every stockholder in a banking corporation or institu¬ 
tion shall be individually responsible and liable to its creditors, 
over and above the amount of stock by him held, to an amount 
equal to his respective stock or shares so held for all its liabilities 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 


135 


accruing while he remains such stockholder; and all banking cor¬ 
porations shall publish quarterly statements, under oath, of their 
assets and liabilities. 

ARTICLE XII.—STATE, COUNTY, AND MUNICIPAL INDEBTEDNESS. 

Section 1 . The state may, to meet casual deficits or failures in 
the revenues, contract debts never to exceed in the aggregate one 
hundred thousand dollars; and no greater indebtedness shall be in¬ 
curred except for the purpose of repelling invasion, suppressing 
insurrection, or defending the state in war, and provision shall be 
made for the payment of the interest annually, as it shall accrue, 
by a tax levied for the purpose, or from other sources of revenue, 
which law providing for the payment of such interest by such tax 
shall be irrepealable until such debt be paid. 

Sec. 2. No city, county, town, precinct, municipality, or other 
sub-division of the state shall ever make donations to any railroad 
or other work of internal improvement, unless a proposition so to 
do shall have been first submitted to the qualified electors thereof 
at an election by authority of law; Provided, that such donations 
of a county with the donations of such sub-divisions in the aggre¬ 
gate shall not exceed ten per cent, of the assessed valuation of such 
county; Provided, further, that any city or county may, by a two- 
thirds vote, increase such indebtedness five per cent, in addition to 
such ten per cent., and no bonds or evidences of indebtedness so 
issued shall be valid unless the same shall have endorsed thereon 
a certificate signed by the secretary and auditor of state, showing 
that the same is issued pursuant to law. 

Sec. 3. The credit of the state shall never be given or loaned 
in aid of any individual, association, or corporation. 


ARTICLE XIII—MILITIA. 

Section 1. The legislature shall determine what persons shall 
constitute the militia of the state, and may provide for organizing 
and disciplining the same. 

ARTICLE XIV—MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 

Section 1. Executive and judicial officers and members of the 
legislature, before they enter upon their official duties, shall take 
and subscribe the following oath or affirmation: “I do solemnly 
swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United 
States, and the Constitution of the State of Nebraska, and will 

faithfully discharge the duties of-—, according to 

the best of my ability, and that at the election at which I was 
chosen to fill said office, I have not improperly influenced in any 
way the vote of any elector, and have not accepted, nor will I ac¬ 
cept or receive, directly or indirectly, any money or other valuable 
thing from any corporation, company, or person, or any promise of 
office for any official act or influence (for any vote I may give or 



136 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 


withhold on any bill, resolution, or appropriation).” Any such 
officer or member of the legislature who shall refuse to take the 
oath herein prescribed shall forfeit his office, and any person who 
shall be convicted of having sworn falsely to, or of violating his 
said oath, shall forfeit his office, and thereafter be disqualified from 
holding any office of profit or trust in this state, unless he shall 
have been restored to civil rights. 

Sec. 2. Any person who is in default as collector and custodian 
of public money or property shall not be eligibly to any office of 
trust or profit under the constitution or laws of this state; nor 
shall any person convicted of felony be eligible to office unless he 
shall have been restored to civil rights. 

Sec. 3. Drunkenness shall be cause of impeachment and re¬ 
moval from office. 


ARTICLE XV—AMENDMENTS. 

Section 1. Either branch of the legislature may propose 
amendments to this constitution, and, if the same be agreed to by 
three-fifths of the members elected to each house, such proposed 
amendments shall be entered on the journals, with the yeas and 
nays, and published at least once each week in at least one news¬ 
paper in each county, where a newspaper is published, for three 
months immediately preceding the next election of senators and 
representatives, at which election the same shall be submitted to 
the electors for approval or rejection, and if a majority of the 
electors voting at such election adopt such amendments, the same 
shall become a part of this constitution. When more than one 
amendment is submitted at the same election, they shall be so sub¬ 
mitted as to enable the electors to vote on each amendment sepa¬ 
rately. 

Sec. 2. When three-fifths of the members elected to each 
branch of the legislature deem it necessary to call a convention to 
revise, amend, or change this constitution, they shall recommend 
to the electors to vote at the next election of members of the leg¬ 
islature for or against a convention, and if a majority voting at 
said election vote for a convention, the legislature shall, at its 
next session, provide by law for calling the same. The conven¬ 
tion shall consist of as many members as the house of representa¬ 
tives, who shall be chosen in the same manner, and shall meet 
within three months after their election-, for the purpose aforesaid. 
No amendment or change of this constitution, agreed upon by 
such convention, shall take effect until the same has been sub¬ 
mitted to the electors of the state, and adopted by a majority of 
those voting for and against the same. 

ALLOWING electors to express their preference for 
UNITED STATES SENATOR. 

The legislature may provide that at the general election imme¬ 
diately preceding the expiration of the term of a United States 


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 


137 


senator from this state, the electors may by ballot express their 
preference for some person for the office of United States senator. 
The votes cast for such candidates shall be canvassed and returned 
in the same manner as for state officers. 

SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 

The seat of government of the state shall not be removed or re¬ 
located without the assent of a majority of the electors of the state, 
voting thereupon at a general election or elections, under such 
rules and regulations as to the number of elections and manner of 
voting, and places to be voted for, as may be prescribed by law; 
Provided , the question of removal may be submitted at such other 
general elections as may be provided by law. 


Done in convention at the capitol in the city of Lincoln, on the 
twelfth day of June, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight 
hundred and seventy-five, and of the Independence of the United 
States of America the ninety-ninth. 





HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


CHAPTER I.—EXPLORATION. 

The section of country now called Nebraska seems to 
have been trodden by feet of white men soon after the 
discovery of the continent. The reader will remember 
that Columbus made his discovery October 12, 1492, and 
that in 1518, Cortes departed upon his expedition for the 
conquest of .Mexico, the final subjugation of which was 
accomplished in 1521. Mexico proper then embraced the 
present territories, Arizona and New Mexico. In the 
northern portion of Mexico, near the present boundary 
line between Arizona and New Mexico, are the Zuni 
ruins. In early Mexican history, under the Spaniards, 
this Zuni settlement, of Indians fairly civilized, was 
known as the “seven cities of Cibola,” said to be rich in 
gold and other evidences of wealth. 

A short time previous to 1540, Francisco Vasquez de 
Coronado arrived in Mexico, (then called New Spain,) 
as governor of one of the provinces. He was a Spaniard 
of the knightly order, and sought, in the new country, 
adventure, wealth, and renown. He married Beatrix, 
daughter of Estrada, the royal provincial treasurer, who 
administered the government during the investigation into 
the charges against Cortes. 

In 1530, Nuno de Guzman, president of New Spain, 
headed an expedition in search of the seven cities. The- 
difficulties encountered in trying to cross the mountains 
caused him to abandon the enterprise. Soon after the 
arrival of Coronado the subject was revived and Coronado- 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


I 39 

organized another search-party. H£ seems to have started 
from the city of Mexico in 1540, to have passed up the 
Gulf of California and the Colorado river and then gone 
easterly to the cities of Cibola. The cities were found 
to be mere hamlets, and the houses small. No treasures 
were found. After wreaking his vengeance upon the 
innocent inhabitants, he passed to the east to the Rio 
Grande river. He was told that to the north-east lay a 
great city Quivira, rich in treasure, ruled by the white- 
haired chief, Tartarrax. 

In the spring of 1541 he started in search of Quivira, 
under the guidance of an Indian from the east, whom he 
called the Turk. The authorities mark out the route 
through Colorado and Kansas. Coronado says that in 
latitude 40, he reached the province of Quivira, but he 
found no large city, no remarkable houses, no stores of 
gold, no wealth. “ I sojourned twenty-five days,” he 
wrote to the king, “in the province Quivira, as much to 
thoroughly explore the country as to see if I could not 
find some further occasion to serve your Majesty, for the 
guides whom I brought with me have spoken of provinces 
situated still further on. That which I have been able 
to learn is, that in all this country one can find neither 
gold nor any other metal. They spoke to me of small 
villages, whose inhabitants for the most part do not cul¬ 
tivate the soil. They have huts of hides and of willows, 
and change their places of abode with the buffaloes.” 
Coronado also learned about a river larger than any that 
he had crossed/ called Teucarea, which has been sup¬ 
posed to be the Missouri. 

Coronado took pleasure in hanging the guides who 
had lured him so far from New Mexico, through wastes 
and deserts. Before their death, they confessed that they 


140 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


had deceived the Spaniards and led them as they had 
done in the hope that the whole Spanish army would 
perish on the journey. At the northern point reached by 
'Coronado, he erected a cross, on which he inscribed: 
“ Francisco Yasquez de Coronado, general of an expedi¬ 
tion, reached this place.” The location of ‘‘this place” 
is not definitely known, but Judge Savage is confident 
that it was on the southern bank of the Platte. One of his 
companions, John of Padilla, returned to Quivira, Avith a 
small band in order to teach the Christian religion to the 
Indians. His after fate is unknown. 

Fifty-eight years after the journey of Coronado, in the 
year 1599, one Onate, a Spaniard, made an attempt to 
reach Quivira. The accounts of the attempt are so in¬ 
distinct aud indefinite that we can only conjecture con¬ 
cerning some parts of the journey. seems to have 

marched from Santa Fe, a distance nearly or quite seven 
hundred miles, over prairie and river to a populous 
Indian city extending several leagues in extent. His 
followers appear to have been less brave and daring than 
himself and thus he was compelled to return. If he 
traveled his u two hundred leagues and a little more,” as 
he says he did, and if his road was reasonably direct, 
Onate was an early visitor to the prosperous state of 
Nebraska. 

In all Spanish conquests, the conquerors never lost 
sight of the fact that the conquered were heathens “ with 
souls to be saved.” The clergy followed close upon the 
heels of the army, carrying the cross to the pagans. 
Accordingly after the discovery of the province of 
Quivira, several pious pilgrimages were made in that 
direction, from Mexico, but none of them have added 
much to the stock of our information. One of these pil- 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


T 4 r 

grimages is said to have extended some seven hundred 
miles from Santa Fe, to the banks of a large and swift- 
flowing river, which so terrorized the Indian guides that 
the pilgrims were compelled to return unsuccessful. The 
seven hundred miles would have carried them about as 
far as the point reached by Onate. Another party 
reached a point north of Quivira, in the region now 
known as South Dakota, and converted a tribe so suddenly 
that the deed was attributed to the direct interposition of 
the Deity. This party evidently crossed the whole width 
of Nebraska, the first excursion of that character made by 
white men. The dates of these two pilgrimages are not 
given. 

But the Spaniards of Mexico never allowed Quivira to 
escape their memory. It was always present in their 
thoughts as an El Dorado, unexplored. More than sixty 
years since Onate’s attempt had fled, when another move¬ 
ment was made looking to the discovery and conquest of 
the fabled Quivira. Don Diego, Count of Penalosa, Was 
a creole of Lima, Peru, and became governor of the north¬ 
ern province of Mexico, probably embracing the present 
Arizona, New Mexico, and part of Texas. He left Santa 
Fe March 0, 1662, with eighty Spanish knights, one 
thousand Indians, thirty-six wagons, eight hundred 
horses, three hundred mules and six pieces of cannon. 
His general course was nearly the same as that followed 
by Coronado, more than a century before. On the 
journey, when under the fortieth parallel of latitude, he 
fell in with a war party of Indians called the Escanzaques, 
(Kansas) about three thousand strong, who represented 
themselves to be on the war path against their hereditary 
enemies, the inhabitants of Quivira. Penalosa added 
this force to his own and continued his march.. 


142 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


Reaching the bank of a rushing river, they proceeded 
along its valley (dates and distances not clearly given) 
until they halted on a spot where on the opposite side an¬ 
other stream entered the river. Between these two 
streams, on a spacious prairie, they beheld a vast city. 
This was one of the cities of Quivira. It contained thou¬ 
sands of houses, some even four stories in height, of 
frame and skillfully thatched. The city extended more 
than two leagues, upon a broad prairie said to be eighteen 
or twenty miles in breadth. A delegation of seventy 
caciques, or chiefs, splendidly attired, came over the river 
to welcome the strangers. They 4 brought gifts of their 
most precious possessions,—“furs of ermine, otter and 
beaver, deer and buffalo skins, pumpkins and beans, 
bread of maize, with stores of wild game and fresh fish.” 
They promised more when Penalosa should cros's the 
river the next day. 

But when the next day actually came, the dwellers in 
the peaceful city of Quivira had no presents which they 
could bestow upon the Spaniards. During the night, 
without the knowledge of Penalosa, the Escanza- 
ques had forded the river, fallen upon the sleeping city, 
ravaged, burned and murdered, so that, when Penalosa 
crossed the river at sunrise, not a living soul was found 
within it of all the thousands who were there the day 
before. The natives, timid and unwarlike, who survived 
the slaughter of the night, had fled. 

The Spaniards occupied the day in extinguishing the 
flames and repressing the fury of their Indian allies. 
Even this expedition was doomed to disappointment. A 
thorough search failed to bring to light gold or other 
precious metals or stones. After traversing the streets 
of the fallen city, admiring its extent and former magnifi- 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


J 43 


cence, the fertility of the strong, black soil, and its wealth 
ot production, the vast cavalcade of Spaniards and Indians 
turned their faces toward the south. Thev bet^an their 
homeward march June 11 , 1662. On the journey, the 
Spaniards had a sanguinary battle with their allies, the 
Escanzaques, but we are not informed as to its cause. 
While the location of the city of Quivira, visited by Pen- 
alosa, is not definitely fixed, yet the evidence discovered 
places it in the valley at the confluence of the Loup and 
Platte.* 

Up to this date, we have found that the explorers have 
been uniformly Spaniards from Mexico, hunting gold pri¬ 
marily, and conquests for the Spanish king, incidentally. 
The gold was not found, and the conquests were at too 
great a distance to be held. In the meanwhile the French 
had discovered and claimed the valley of the Mississippi 
river. 

New Orleans was founded in 1718. In the following 
year Bienville, the newly appointed governor of Louisi¬ 
ana, sent Dutisne, a French officer, to inspect the northern 
and western portions of his new possessions. Dutisne 
visited the Osage, Paduca and Pawnee Indians; the two 
latter tribes had their homes in Nebraska. In 1724 
French explorers penetrated westward and northward from 
St. Louis, along the western bank of the Missouri river. 
That they were within the present limits of Kansas seems 

*The reader may be interested in a titnlar description of Penalosa. 
Father Nicholas de Freytas, who wrote the principal account of the expedi¬ 
tion of Penalosa, thus describes him: “Don Diego Dionysio, of Penalosa, 
Bricena and Verdugo, Ocampo and Valdivia, lord of the cities of Guarina 
and Farara, and their eleven towns, tributary Knight Vassal in the City of 
La Paz. provincial alcalde and perpetual ruler therein, and in the five prov¬ 
inces of its district; Governor and Captain General of New Mexico, lawful 
successor and heir of the marquisate of Arauco, the Countship of Valdivia 
(province of Chili,) the Vis countship of La imperial, and the marouisate of 
Oristan, claiming to be Marquis of Farara and Count of Santa Fe de Penalosa, 
Adalantado of Chili and of the Great Quivira in the west of this new world of 
America.” Penalosa expected to be made Duke of Quivira, but was 
disappointed. 



I 44 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


to be certain, and that some of them were in Nebraska is 
highly probable. The accounts of all those early French 
explorations are provokingly indefinite as to names, dates 
and localities. 

In 1739 there w T as a movement in Nebraska whose' de¬ 
tails are reasonably definite. On May 29, of that year, 
a company of eight men were at or hear Genoa, on the 
Loup river. How or when they reached that place has 
not been told in any documents known to us. Seven of 
them were French Canadians, and we do not know the 
nationality of the other. Their names are Peter Mallet, 
Paul Mallet, Philip Robitaille, Louis Moreau, Michael 
Beslot, Joseph Bellecourt, Manuel Gallien and Jean 
David. They seem to have been sent by the governor of 
Louisiana to go to New Mexico and to discover its capa¬ 
bilities for trade, and possibly to discover its military 
strength. If it were a mere trading venture it is difficult 
to understand why the party should have started from the 
Loup. On the day mentioned above, the party started 
from the Loup, traveling, it would appear, in a south¬ 
westerly direction. On the third day out, they reached 
a wide and shallow river which they named the Platte. 
The word is from the French and has the sense, broad, 
flat. The name is quite appropriate and this seems to 
have been the first application of the name to this 
river. It is conjectured that they must have found the 
Platte at some point not far west of Kearney. As the 
direction from which the river flowed at the point where 
they reached it was nearly identical with that in which 
they wished to go, they followed it westwardlv a dis¬ 
tance of twenty-eight leagues—over eighty-four miles. 
This brought them to the south branch of the Platte, 
which they called the Padouca. They did not know very 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


145 


definitely the direction to New Mexico, and so they 
followed the north branch of the Platte for three days, 
when, finding that it was leading away from their propos¬ 
ed route, they crossed back to the South Platte, and pur¬ 
sued their journey. On June 20, they crossed a deep and 
rapid stream, losing seven horses loaded with merchandise. 
This river would seem to be the Kansas, and the one 
crossed June 30, the Arkansas. 

The party reached Santa Fe July 22, and were received 
kindly and treated with marked hospitality. At Santa 
Fe, they remained nine months, awaiting an answer 
to their petition to trade, which had to be sent to the 
royal governor, in Mexico. Louis Moreau married and 
remained in New Mexico. Three returned to the Loup,, 
but we learn nothing more about them. Four descended 
the Arkansas river, losing all their possessions in the trip, 
and reported to the governor of Louisiana. 

In 1762, two brothers, Pierre and August Choteau, are 
said to have passed up the Platte river, beyond the forks, 
in pursuit of game. In the same year, after the conquest 
of Canada, by England, the province of Louisiana was 
ceded to Spain. 

Whether French travelers actually visited the country 
west of the Mississippi, at an early date, or not, they 
were enabled, in and through their friendly intercourse 
with the Indians, to obtain a fair knowledge of the 
country. A map, drawn by Father Marquette, in 1673, 
discriptive of his voyage down the Mississippi, has lately 
been discovered. Upon this map is drawn the general 
course of the Missouri to a point far north of Nebraska, 
and the Platte is laid down in almost its exact position. 
Among the names of Indian trijbes scattered about'the 
region of the two rivers are found Panas, Omahas and 

11 


146 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


Otontantes. These may be easily translated, Pawnees, 
Omahas and Otoes. (?) The map is the more wonderful, 
as Father Marquette did not visit the region delineated. 

In 1721 Charlevoix named and described the different 
tribes of Indians residing upon the Missouri, and stated 
their location with almost as much accuracy as though he 
had had personal knowledge of the territory which they 
inhabited. 

The province remained Spanish territory until October 
1, 1800, when it was ceded to France. Napoleon needed 
money and desired to make the French possessions in 
America safe from British seizure; according to treaty of 
April 30, 1803, the United States purchased the whole 
French territory west of the Mississippi for fifteen million 
dollars. Early in 1804, Captains Lewis and Clarke were 
despatched up the Missouri river for exploration. The 
party encamped July 11, 011 an island at the mouth of the 
Nemaha river. They also visited the shores at the mouths 
of the Little Nemaha and Platte and at other points. On 
July 30, they held a council with the Indians near Fort 
Calhoun, in Washington county and named the place 
where the council was held, Council Bluffs. They also 
held a council with the Poncas, in the northern part of the 
state, which resulted in treaties with that tribe. 

In these councils with the Indians, the change in the 
sovereignty over the territory and over them, was an¬ 
nounced to the Indians, with which they expressed satis¬ 
faction and sent greetings to the Great Father at Washing¬ 
ton. Presents were distributed among the Indians ac¬ 
cording to custom. 

As early as 1808, a steamboat from St. Louis came up 
the Missouri river as far as the mouth of the Platte. 

Three years afterwards, in 1811, a portion of Captain 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 

# 


H7 

Hunt’s party, returning from an expedition to the Colum¬ 
bia river, embarked upon the northern branch of the Platte 
and descended to the Missouri. In the following year, a 
party belonging to the Pacific Fur Company, coming 
east with dispatches, sailed down the Platte as Captain 
Hunt’s men had done. 

Major Stephen H. Long, of the United States army, 
was sent up the Missouri river in 1819 to inquire into 
the condition of the Indians and the working of treaties. 
In the next year, he led an exploring party up the Platte 
to the junction of its two branches. 

In the spring of 1832 Captain B. L. E. Booneville, of 
the regular army, left Fort Osage, on the Missouri river, 
with one hundred and ten soldiers, some hunters and 
trappers and a party of Delaware Indians. On June 2, 
he reached the Platte, about twenty-five miles below the 
head of Grand Island. By measurement he found the 
river to be two thousand and two hundred yards wide, 
and from three to five feet deep,—quicksand in the bed 
and cottonwood trees covering numerous islands. The 
party passed westward up the river, and passed the 
forks June 11. In a few days on ascending a high 
bluff “as far as the eye could reach, the country seemed 
absolutely blackened by innumerable herds ” of buffaloes. 

Col. Henry Dodge, of the United States army, left 
Ft. Leavenworth, in the latter part of May, 1835, with an 
expedition party for the Rocky Mountains. The party 
followed the western bank of the Missouri river nearly as 
far north as the mouth of the Platte. Then they followed 
the Platte to its source and returned by a southern route, 
by way of the Arkansas river. He camped a short time 
at Cottonwood Springs, afterwards Fort McPherson, in 
Lincoln county. 


148 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


Fremont’s expedition to the Rocky Mountains in 1842 
passed through a portion of the state, entering it from 
Kansas, probably in Jefferson county, and passing 
through Kearney and up the Platte. When this party 
returned the following year, Fremont came down the 
Platte to Bellevue, where he broke up his party and sold 
his outfit. 

CHAPTER II.—THE INDIANS. 

When Nebraska became a territory, in 1854, there were 
seven tribes of Indians having homes within its present 
boundaries. These were, the Omahas, the Pawnees, the 
Otoes, the Santees, the Winnebagoes, the Poncas and the 
Iowas. These numbered about ten thousand persons, and 
lived on reservations, or in villages, in the eastern portion 
of the state, along the Missouri and Platte rivers. In the 
north-western part of the state there were, in addition, 
several tribes of roving Indians with no fixed abode, who 
were very warlike, and of whom the more peaceable In¬ 
dians of the reservations stood in constant fear. Indians 
from outside, from Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado and 
Western Kansas, often made incursions into the territory 
and committed devastation. Notably among these were 
the Cheyennes from Colorado, which was a very warlike 
and aggressive tribe, and the Arickarees of Dakota. 

The Omahas numbered above a thousand and occupied 
lands along the Missouri river from the Platte to Fort 
Atkinson, the Council Bluffs of Lewis and Clarke, in 
Washington County, and extending about forty miles 
westward. This is a tribe of the great Dakota family 
which formerly occupied nearly all the lands of Dakota, 
Nebraska and Kansas. This tribe once resided farther 
north, probably in Minnesota. In 1780, it settled in 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


X 49 


north-western Iowa, and soon afterwards migrated into 
Nebraska and settled near the mouth of the Niobrara, 
where Lewis and Clarke found it. The Sioux, who resided 
up towards the Black Hills, in Dakota, were the heredi¬ 
tary and mortal enemies of these Indians, and finally drove 
them easterly and southerly, down the Missouri River. 
In 1830 they reached the place already indicated and 
placed their head village at Bellevue. Missions were 
established among them in 1839 and in 1846, but with 
little apparent success. In 1854 the government purchased 
their lands and removed them to their reservation in the 
northern part of what is now Burt County, where 345,000 
acres were reserved for their culture. 

The Pawnees lived on the southern bank of the Platte 
river, with their chief village on the high bluff nearly 
opposite to the present city, Fremont. Their number 
was estimated to be between four thousand and five thous 
and. They are reputed to be related to the Illinois In¬ 
dians, and Marquette found some bands of thetribe in his 
visit to that state. They have now been residents of 
Nebraska a century and a half. When they came to the 
state, they claimed and tried to occupy all the lands from 
the Platte to the Kansas rivers, and to the west as far as 
Kearney. In 1806 the best estimates placed their number 
at 6,223, divided into three villages. The Loup Indians 
were a band of this tribe, and were constantly at war with 
the Sioux; probably as often offensively as defensively. 
In 1832, the Pawnees sold their claims to the govern¬ 
ment, and entered upon a reservation at the mouth of the 
Loup river. They had two principal villages; one was 
at the entrance of Cedar creek into the Loup, where Ful¬ 
lerton is now situated. The other village was probably 
on the bluff nearly opposite to the present site of Silver 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


150 

Creek—although one authority places it on the Loup 
nearer Columbus, and Fremont places it thirty miles uj> 
the Platte river from the Loup. During their residence 
on the Loup, the Sioux from the north often attacked 
them, frequently invading their villages and burning 
their tepees, and killing women and children. Although 
the Pawnees have been accounted by some writers the 
bravest, most warlike and strongest tribe of Indians in 
Nebraska, they finally succumbed to the constant attacks 
of the Sioux, and moved off south to the Kansas river. 
In 1848, the Pawnees seem to have returned and taken 
up their residence 011 the southern bank of the Platte, 
with one village nearly across the river from Fremont and 
the other nearly across from Valley. In 1857, the govern¬ 
ment purchased their lands and gave to them the Loup 
country for their reservation. It would appear that they 
did not remove to their reservation until late in 1859* or 
1860. Soon after their removal to their reservation, but 
at what date the authorities do not say, a fierce battle 
between the Sioux and Pawnees, on Wood river, near 
Kearney, severely crippled the Pawnees, who were de¬ 
feated. During the war of the rebellion, they furnished 
warriors and scouts to the government in its operations 
against the Sioux Indians. In 1874, they sold their lands 
to the government and were moved to the Indian Ter¬ 
ritory. 

The Otoes were located in the south-eastern portion of 
the state, between the Missouri and the Big Blue rivers, 
and numbered about one thousand people. Their head 
village was on the Missouri, below the present site of 
Nebraska City. This tribe belongs to the Dakota family, 
and are near of kin to the Missouri tribe with whom they 
were at one time united. The French knew them in 1673 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


151 

as Attauka, and they called themselves Wahoobtalita. 
They had an earlier home near the head-waters of the 
Mississippi river, from which they emigrated about 1724, 
and settled upon the lands near the mouth of the great 
Nemaha, where they were found by the first white settlers 
of Nebraska. When Lewis and Clarke passed up the 
Missouri, they were occupying the bank of that river im¬ 
mediately north of the Platte. They abandoned that tract 
about 1820 and thereafter resided wholly south of the 
Platte. In 1854, they ceded their lands to the govern¬ 
ment and were removed to a reservation in the southern 
portion of Gage county. This reservation they afterwards 
sold to the government, and removed to the Indian Ter¬ 
ritory. 

The Winnebagoes constituted a portion of the great 
Dakota family, and were placed upon a reservation which 
now embraces Thurston county. 

The Santees were a branch of the Sioux family and held 
the country near the mouth of the Niobrara. While these 
Indians were warlike and brave, and as cruel as Indians 
need be, yet they were considered the most civilized of 
that great family. 

The Poncas were related to the Omahas, and resided at 
a very early time upon the Red river of the north. They 
■were continuously at war with some tribe of the Sioux, 
several of which tribes were their neighbors, until, failing 
to hold their own in the constant strife, they moved south¬ 
ward, crossed the Missouri river and built a fortified town 
on the Ponca river in Nebraska. Their constant strifes 
with the Sioux had greatly reduced their number and 
strength, but after the visit from Lewis and Clarke, re¬ 
sulting in the treaties of 1817 and 1825, they improved so 
rapidly that, in 1832, they numbered over seven hundred 


152 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


and fifty. The government purchased their lands in 1851, 
but they seem to have been allowed to remain in Nebraska 
until 1865, when they were removed to their reservation 
in the angle formed by the confluence of the Missouri and 
Niobrara rivers. This reservation was then in Dakota 
but a large portion of it was transferred to the state of 
Nebraska. In 1877, these Indians were removed to the 
Indian Territory, but, two years afterwards, their chief 
and thirty others, becoming discontented and dissatisfied 
with that country, returned to Nebraska. 

The Iowas are also a branch of the Dakota family. 
Marquette found them on the Des Moines river in 1673. 
In 1836, the government removed them to a reservation 
in the southern part of Richardson county. 

The Sacs and Foxes have long been united as one tribe. 
They resided on the Mississippi river, near Fort Arm¬ 
strong, near Galena, Illinois, in 1822. They were in¬ 
volved in the famous Blackhawk war, after which they 
sold out to the government and were removed to the Des 
Moines river in Iowa. Soon afterwards, they broke up 
into separate bands and scattered. One fragment remains 
in Iowa, one moved into the Indian Territory, one into 
Kansas, and another joined the Iowas on their reservation 
in Richardson county. 


CHAPTER III.—ANTE-TERRITORIAL DAYS. 

The events and movements recorded above, pertained in 
large measure to countries and people outside of the terri¬ 
tory of Nebraska. The influence of those movements 
and events had no direct pressure upon the history of 
Nebraska. Indirectly they advertised to the outside 
world the existence of the fertile plains, the well watered 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


I 53 


valleys, and the mild climate of the state, and thus effected 
an earlier settlement of this region than would have been 
accomplished otherwise. But the actors in those move¬ 
ments and events were not Nebraskans; they did not come 
here for purposes of settlement; they were travelers, 
hunters or warriors drawn hither by other attractions 
than those of lands, climate or homes. This chapter will 
be devoted largely to events within the state before it was 
•organized into a territory and to the early settlers during 
the same period of time. The period of exploration and 
travel continued many years after the period of actual 
•settlement began. 

The territory now called Nebraska was a part of the 
Louisiana purchase acquired in 1803. Later in the year 
the territory of Louisiana was organized. This comprised 
that portion of the purchase south of the 33d degree of 
latitude. That portion of the purchase north of this 
degree was attached, as District of Louisiana, to the ter¬ 
ritory of Indiana. Two years afterwards the whole 
purchase was re-united as the Territory of Louisiana. 
The territory of Missouri, embracing the present limits 
of Nebraska, was organized June 4, 1812.' After the 
admission of Missouri in 1821, there were nearly twenty 
years in which there was no government other than that 
exercised through the army and the Indian agents in 
Nebraska. Then it was attached to Missouri for judicial 
jurisdiction. 

The first settlement in the state which had about it any 
element of permanency was made at Bellevue, .in 1810, 
by the American Fur Company. On that date, the com¬ 
pany established its agency, with Francis de Roin its 
Indian trader. He was succeeded by Joseph Roubideux; 
he by John Cabonne in 1818, and he by Peter A. Sarpy 


*54 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


in 1824. Ill the meantime, in 18^3, the government re¬ 
moved its Indian agency from Fort Calhoun to Bellevue. 
This town is reputed to have acquired its name from an 
exclamation of surprise and admiration uttered by Manuel 
Lisa who visited the place in 1805. Standing upon the 
height, probably not far from the present sire of the 
college buildings, and viewing the magnificent panorama 
spread out before him, he is said to have exclaimed, belle 
vue , “beautiful scene.” The exclamation was crystallized 
into a proper name and has clung to the place ever since. 

In 1819, the United States army erected a fort near the 
present site of Ft. Calhoun, in Washington county and 
named it, Ft. Atkinson. Soon after, but we do not know 
at' what date, the government established an Indian 
agency at the same place. This was the scene of the 
council which Captains Lew T is and Clarke held with the 
Indians in 1804, and thus early acquired the name Coun¬ 
cil Bluffs. This Indian agency, as we have seen, was re¬ 
moved to Bellevue in 1823. The name of the fort was 
changed to Fort Calhoun, and w 7 as abandoned in June, 
1827. 

Between the years 1825 and 1828, one J. B. Royce had 
a trading house on the plateau near Omaha. 

In 1826, Col. John B. Boulware made a settlement 
near Ft. Calhoun. How long he remained, and what was 
the nature of his business there, we are not informed. In 
1852 he is found at Nebraska City w T here he established a 
ferry and was found by the earliest historic settlers of 
that place. 

Taking events in the order of time, the next record 
relates to the Indians alone. The Sioux and Pawnees 
were inveterate enemies, and the same enmity existed 
with less intensity between the allies of each. In 1832, 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


T 55 


the year in which Captain Booneville made his journey 
through the central and western portions of the state, the 
armies of these hostile aborigines met somewhere within 
the present boundaries of Richardson county. The 
number of warriors engaged is said to have been about 
sixteen thousand. The battle raged during three days (and 
nights), at the end of which the Sioux and their allies 
withdrew, having lost three thousand braves of which 
number seven hundred were prisoners, whom the Pawnees 
burned with the usual Indian cruelty. The Pawnees 
and allies lost two thousand. The Sioux confederates 
were led by Oconomowoe, and the Pawnee confederates 
by Tacpohana; both able, crafty, and experienced lighters. 
The result of this battle placed the Pawnees, for many 
years, masters of the country. 

The Omahas, Otoes, Pawnees and Pottawattomies were 
included within the jurisdiction of the Indian agency at 
Bellevue. In 1834, Rev. Moses Merrill, a Baptist mis¬ 
sionary to the Otoes, arrived at Bellevue and erected a 
mission house. He died the following year and the mis¬ 
sion house was afterwards burned. Later in the same 
year, 1834, Samuel Allis and Rev. John Dunbar, under 
the direction of the Presbyterian board of missions, 
came to Bellevue to do missionary work. Mr. Allis soon 
afterwards opened a school among the Pawnees, in their 
village at the mouth of Council creek. Mr. Dunbar 
accompanied another branch of the Pawnees, in Nance 
county, called the Grand Pawnees, to a. village further 
south. The difficulties and dangers of their positions 
there, on account of the continued hostility of the Sioux, 
compelled them to abandon the schools two years later 
and to return to Bellevue. In 1837 or 8, Rev. Samuel 
Curtis and wife came to Bellevue, to succeed Rev. Moses 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


156 

Merrill. They went to Blackbird Hills, where the 
Omahas then were, but he remained but about a year. 
In the same year, a missionary and wife went among t.he> 
Poncas in the northern part of the state. 

At a very early date in 1833 or 4, Baptiste Roy had a 
trading house in Sarpy county, near the mouth of the 
Papillion. Father De Smet says that in 1839, Mr. 
Cabanne had a trading post ten miles above Omaha, and 
that Manuel Ivisa had a post one mile above Cabanne’s* 

In 1843, (or 1845, the authorities differ) the Sioux 
made an attack upon the Pawnee village on the Loup, 
where Mr. Allis was teacher. The Sioux would rush 
down from the high bluff near the village, set fire to some 
tepees, kill a few Pawnees, and steal a few horses, and 
then retreat. The Pawnees fought desperately and 
were enabled to prevent the destruction of the whole 
village, though they lost many tepees and warriors. The 
Sioux lost many warriors also, but as they carried their 
dead away, according to the custom of all Indians, the 
extent of their loss could not be ascertained. 

The first celebration of the Fourth of July within the 
state seems to have occurred at the Pawnee village on the 
Loup, on the site where Fullerton now stands, in 1844. 
The teachers of the several Pawnee schools, on Willow 
(now Cedar), Council and Plum creeks, met on the 
bluffs named and held an old-fashioned picnic celebration. 
The details of this event are worth being recorded at 
length as given by Mrs. Platt. “We of Plum creek 
were off very early in the morning for a ride to Willow 
Creek settlement, five miles away, where we were to 
breakfast with our friends, the Mathers, Mr. Mather, Sr., 
being superintendent of the farms. Five children be¬ 
longing to the different mission families were my pupils 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


157 


for that season. These were fitted with regalia, and 
Henry M. Allis was banner bearer for the occasion. Our 
point of rendezvous was Cedar Bluffs, a height overlook¬ 
ing the Willow (Cedar), where Fullerton, Nance county, 
now stands. The young men of our party, with the aid 
of two Indian boys who accompanied us, built a bower 
of cedar branches from the trees near by. Our banner 
was planted on the edge of the precipice, two hundred 
feet from the water below, and our little company gave 
themselves up to the enjoyments of the hour, feasting our 
eyes on the wondrous beauty of the landscape before 
us. Blessed above most county seats is that of Nance 
county for views of delight. After an hour or two spent 
in rambling and chatting, our company was called to 
seats under the bower, where was spread a collation very 
inviting to hungry wanderers. Before eating we had a 
short exercise, and though I do not find it recorded in 
my journal, I have the impression that L. W. Pratt read 
the Declaration of Independence, and that Mr. James 
Mather gave a short oration. During the exercises, 
America and an original poem were sung, prayer was 
offered, and before partaking of the feast the blessing of 
Almighty God was invoked by Mr. Allis. On our return 
home the large residue of our feast was left at the Indian 
village for the old.and infirm, who were unable to go on 
the hunt.” 

The government built a fort 011 the present site of 
Nebraska City in 1844, and named it Fort Kearney. Two 
years later, May 19, 1846, congress directed that a fort 
be built 011 the Platte. The troops to build and to hold 
it were sent from Fort Leavenworth, under Lieut.-Col. 
Powell, late in 1847. They reached the mouth of Table 
creek, near the present site of Nebraska City, in Sep- 


158 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


tember, and encamped for the winter. In April, 1848, 
the troops marched westward and built a fort just south 
of the Platte river, giving to it the name Fort Childs. In 
December of that year, the war .department changed the 
name to Kearney, in honor of Gen. Stephen W. Kearney, 
then lately deceased. The fort did good service during 
the emigration to California and during the various Indian 
excitements on the frontier. It was abandoned in 18V1. 
When the new Fort Kearney on the Platte was erected, 
the fort of that name on the Missouri was abandoned. 
Soon afterwards, the American Fur Company occupied 
the site of the old fort and established a post there. 
A mission school was established and a building erected 
at Bellevue in 1857, and Mr. D. E. Reed came out to 
superintend the school. As the Council Bluffs Indian 
agency had been removed to Bellevue, the name came 
with it, and Bellevue is often called Council Bluffs. 

Beginning with 1845, Mormon bands came into the 
state, and made settlements in various places. In the 
year named, if not earlier, a settlement was made in 
Washington county, near DeSoto. They established at 
Florence what they called their “Winter Quarters.” In 
1847 the Ponca Indians complained to the government 
that a band of Mormons, which seems to have settled in 
the north-eastern part of the state a year or more before 
that date, was destroying the game and timber which be¬ 
longed to the Indians. The government sent a force and 
compelled the Mormons to leave. Omaha, Plattsmouth 
and Fort Calhoun were held by the Mormons as temporary 
stopping places, while the leaders were deciding upon 
the place for a permanent location. They established a 
ferry at Plattsmouth in 1848. 

Omaha was evidently named before 1846, for on July 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


I S9 


28, of that year, the Omaha Arrow began to be issued. 
J. W. P attison was the editor and J. E. Johnson business 
manager. We are not told the religious convictions of 
the editor, but the business manager is reported to have 
been a Mormon. The held for such a paper must have 
been very limited and its support quite indifferent, for, 
at best, there were but few settlers in the state beside 
Mormons. The paper ran twelve weeks only. 

Nebraska lay directLy in the path of the thousands who 
ffocked overland across the continent to the newly dis- 

V 

covered gold fields of California. They crossed the 

O %j 

Missouri river at Omaha, Bellevue, Plattsmouth and 
Nebraska City, in Nebraska, following the Platte 
river from their various points of reaching it. Others 
crossed the Missouri at St. Joseph and at Leavenworth, 
and passed north-westerly up the Little Blue and joined 
the northern stream of emigrants at Kearney. All these 
gold hunters were enamored with the beauty and fertility 
of the valleys and prairies of Nebraska, and were the 
means of spreading its praises to all their friends in the 
east., 

A creek in Dodge countv is said to have received its 
name about this time in 1849. A party on its way to 
California was passing up the creek when it passed near 
some Indian women and children. One young man in 
the party, either through some inherited hatred for the 
Indians, or in a spirit of reckless sport, shot one of the 
Indian women. After the party had encamped for the 
night, a large party of Indians rode up to the camp and 
demanded the man who had killed the Indian woman. 
The Indians were more numerous than the whites and the 
latter therefore had no other alternative than to comply. 
The Indians took the young man to a short distance from 


l6o HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 

the camp and proceeded to day him alive. The stream 
thereafter was known as Rawhide creek. 

In 1850 the government established a military road 
from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to Fort Kearney, afford¬ 
ing easy communication between the two points and 
greatly aiding the gold hunters who were moving west" 
ward. 

In 1851,two hunters and prospectors, Archibald MacKen- 
zie and one Loper, went along the, southern bank of the 
Missouri river as far west as the mouth of the Niobrara 
river. They report that in the Bow Valley a vast herd 
of buffaloes extended from bluff to bluff. They also found 
several veins of coal which did not appear to be valuable. 
Not far from Ionia, they dug into the sand of the Mis¬ 
souri river and found minute scales of gold. They 
gathered a small buckskin bag full and sold their find in 
Chicago for forty dollars. 

Early in 1851 the Nebraska Postoffice was established 
at Bellevue, but the name was changed soon afterwards 
to Council Bluffs Postoffice. In the following year, 1852, 
a town-site company made a preliminary survey and loca¬ 
tion for the town, Bellevue, but the final location was 
not effected until 1854. Maj. Barrows and Col. Decatur 
were members of the town site company. As soon as this 
final action was taken, settlers crowded into the new 
town. In the same year, 1852, the department estab¬ 
lished a postoffice at Nebraska City, with J. B. Boulware 
postmaster. 

As early as 1851 or 1852, William D. Brown, on his way 
to California, observed the demand for ferriage across 
the Missouri, stopped and established a ferry between 
what are now Council Bluffs and Omaha. In 1853 he 
took up a claim in Nebraska, the first one it is said in the 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


I 6l 

state. A postoffice was established at Omaha May 6* 
1854 , and the Fourth of July was celebrated in the infant 
settlement. 

We have said that the emigrants to California adver¬ 
tised the resources and advantages of Nebraska. The 
result of their work in this direction became quite marked 
in 1853 . Heretofore a trading post had been established 
here and there, and a few individuals had come into this 
land for a permanent residence. Yet up to 1853 , the 
number of actual residents was quite small. A start at 
Nebraska City had already been made by Col. J. B. Boul- 
ware and others. In this year E. H. Cowles, H. P^ 
Downs and another named Green formed a company for 
building a town. Downs had been in the regular army 
and was in charge of the old fort. About the same time 
Enos Lowe and others, of Council Bluffs, put in a new 
ferry boat between that town and Omaha. The same 
parties soon after bought land in Nebraska and laid out 
the town of Omaha. In the spring of the same year, 
Samuel Martin, James O’Neill and others built a house 
and opened a trading post at Plattsmoutli. There are 
records showing that as early as May of this year, there 
was a ferry across the Elkhorn on the California trail, 
and another across the Loup. The ferryman at the Loup 
bore the distinguished name, Commodore Decatur. A set¬ 
tlement was also made at St. Deroin, in Nemaha county,, 
during the same year.* 

♦Mrs. McMurphy was one of a party of emigrants which passed westward,, 
up the valley of the Platte, in 1853. Under date of .Tune 4,1853, she wrote in 
her diary as follows: “This Nebraska is a miserable, unpleasant place, in¬ 
deed, and can never be inhabited except by red men of the forest (prairie ); 
the climate is very cold and it is almost impossible even for the grass to 
grow.” Shortly afterwards, when the improved weather had wrought an 
improvement of her sensibilities, and she had gone further west, she added: 
“ It is improving in appearance as the weather grows warmer; the soil is fine 
and will probably be inhabited by a civilized race in time.” Evidently that 
concluding phrase expresses a weakness in her newly awakened faith. 



i 62 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


In the early part of the year, Rev. William Hamilton 
arrived at Bellevue, having been assigned to the Pres¬ 
byterian mission among the Omahas and Otoes. 

The first settlers at the places named above had been 
followed by others until there were, at the close of 1853, 
many settlers along the Missouri and Platte rivers. In 
addition to the actual settlers, in the closing months of 
this year, all the trading posts and all the places of 
settlement were crowded by land-hunters and home- 
hunters. While not actually and legally residents here, 
they felt an interest in the prosperity of the growing 
commonwealth. During the autumn, several meetings 
were held at various places, for putting in motion some 
machinery that' would have the semblance of a legal 
government. All who were west of the Missouri partici¬ 
pated in those meetings, at the same time that many 
restless spirits in Iowa and Missouri came across the river 
to aid the movement. At the meeting at Bellevue, which 
assumed with good reason to be the capital of the new 
empire, an election was held for a delegate to congress 
and for state officers. The election resulted as follows: 
Delegate to Congress, Hadley D. Johnson.... 358 votes. 


Governor, William Hamilton.304 “ 

Secretary of State, Monson H. Clark.295 “ 

Treasurer, H. P. Downs.283 “ 


It does not appear that the voters at Bellevue knew or 
cared whether elections were held in other parts of the 
embryo territory. 

At the opening of congress, in December, Hadley D. 
Johnson, who was an actual resident of Iowa, if the 
records are correct, went on to Washington to labor with 
Congress for a territorial government. Upon his arrival 
he found a Rev. Thomas Johnson already on the ground, 





HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


163 

claiming to have been elected a delegate at an election 
held in some other part of the country, by 337 votes. He 
had already introduced himself to congressmen, and had 
obtained an honorary seat in the house. At first, the two 
Johnsons seemed inclined to antagonize each other, 
but they soon came to a friendly understanding and 
thereafter worked harmoniously, materially aiding in the 
passage of the bill which gave a territorial government to 
Nebraska. They had some decided differences of opinion 
or interest in the matter of the southern boundary, but 
they compromised upon the fortieth degree of latitude. 

While the two Johnsons were in Washington in the 
interest of a territorial government, in the winter of 1853 
and ’54, a convention was held in St. Joseph, Mo., for the 
purpose of formulating a memorial to the president and 
to congress in regard to extinguishing the Indian titles to 
lands in Nebraska, to opening the country to settlement 
and in regard to a territorial organization. There were 
delegates, (self appointed, probably,) from Iowa and 
Missouri, as w T ell as from Nebraska. The chairman of 
the committee on resolutions was Charles F. Holley, of 
Nebraska City. The pro-slavery men in the convention 
were trying to have the following resolution passed: 

“ Resolved; That the emigrants in the territory ought to have the same 
protection to property that they enjoyed in the states from which they 
emigrated.” 

The only contest in the convention was over this reso¬ 
lution. The committee, evenly divided, played at 
“mock congress from dusky eve until dewy morn,” when 
they compromised by suppressing the whole subject. 
Thus the anti-slavery sentiment gained a slight victory, a 
precursor of that greater victory which it won on the 
bloody fields of Kansas, and upon those broader fields 
reddened by patriot blood from 1861 to 1865. 


164 HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 

In September, 1853, the commissioner of Indian affairs 
visited the Omahas and induced that tribe to sell their 
title to the government. The chiefs went on to Wash¬ 
ington and the treaty was signed March 16, 1854, by 
which about one fourth of the territory was opened to 
settlement. 

Early in 1854, a preliminary treaty was made with the 
Otoes for a cession of their lands to the government. The 
government ratified the treaty June 24, 1854, and thus 
threw the south-eastern portion of the territory open to 
settlement. 

During the year 1854, settlers and land-hunters con¬ 
tinued to crowd across the Missouri river, opening up 
new points or joining those who had crossed before them. 
CasS county is said to have received its first bona fide 
farmer in the person of Hon. R. O. Horbach, who 
crossed the Missouri river May 30, 1854, and took up his 
land for a home. In April, the same year, Anselm 
Arnold settled at Fort Calhoun; George W. Nevelle and 
Dr. William Moore came with Arnold’s family early in 
October; a German family named Leiser reached the 
same place October 21st; Elam Clark settled there during 
the same year. In the meantime Bird B. Chapman, 
then unknown to the fame which he afterwards won, 
began the publication of the Omaha JVebraskian , which 
became the Herald in 1865. 

Meanwhile, the efforts of friends, inside and outside of 
the territory, were successful, and President Pierce 
signed the bill organizing the twin territories, Kansas 
and Nebraska, May 30, 1854. 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


165 


CHAPTER IV.—TERRITORIAL DAYS. 

The land which we are considering now r has become an 
organized entity. From a community without law, the 
settlers find themselves transformed into citizens under 
the law. The tract included in the new territory em¬ 
braced all the land within the following limits: starting 
in the Missouri river on the fortieth parallel of latitude, 
thence west to the eastern boundary of Utah on the sum¬ 
mit of the Rocky Mountains, thence on said summit to 
the present northern boundary of the United States, 
thence east to the western boundary of Minnesota, thence 
southward to the Missouri river, and down that river to 
the fortieth parallel of latitude. It contained, by a rough 
estimate, nearly 352,000 square miles of territory. 

By the organic act, the officers were to consist of a 
governor, secretary, three judges, a marshal, a district 
attorney and a legislature, consisting of a council of 
thirteen members, and a house of representatives of 
twenty-six members. The governor was authorized to 
oause a census of the territory to be taken and a legisla¬ 
ture to be elected. In the meantime the governor was 
directed to establish the seat of government until the 
legislature should be in session, when he and the legisla¬ 
ture should establish it for the future. Following is a 
list of the territorial officers appointed by President 
Pierce: 

Governor, Francis Burt, of South Carolina. 

Secretary, Thomas B. Cuming, of Iowa. 

Chief Justice, Fenner Ferguson, of Michigan. 

Associate Justice, James Bradley, of Indiana. 

“ “ Edward R. Harden, of Georgia. 

Marshal, Mark W. Izzard, of Arkansas. 

Attorney, Experience Estabrook, of Wisconsin. 


166 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


Governor Burt reached Bellevue, then the seat of busi¬ 
ness and of politics in the territory, October 7th, and took 
the oath of office on the 16th. He was ill when he arrived. 
The cares and worry incident to his office quickened the 
activity of his disease, and he died on the 18th. Upon 
his death, the secretary, Thomas B. Cuming, became 
acting-governor and continued so to act until the arrival 
of Mark W. Izzard, of Arkansas, who was appointed to- 
succeed Governor Burt. 

Governor Cuming caused a census to be taken of the 
inhabitants of the territory, during October and Novem¬ 
ber. There is no doubt that a large majority of the 
people within the territory were speculators and not 
actual residents, but all were enumerated by the census- 
takers, swelling the census to 2,732. The governor 
divided the territory into eight counties and apportioned 
members of the legislature among them. The names 
of the counties were: Burt, Cass, Dodge, Douglas, 
Forney (now Nemaha), Pierce (now Otoe), Richardson 
and Washington. 

The seat of government was located at Omaha, an 
election for members of the legislature called for 
December 12, 1854, and a session of the legislature at 
Omaha January 16, 1855. The election was probably 
about as illegal as was the census. Votes were cast in 
many places where there were no actual residents, by 
men who came across the Missouri river for the single 
purpose of voting. The slave-holders of Missouri and 
the pro-slavery men of Iowa were interested in the 
election of a legislature in Nebraska that should not pro¬ 
hibit slavery, even if it did not authorize it. At the 
same election eight hundred votes were cast for terri¬ 
torial delegate, and Napoleon P. Giddings was elected. 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


167 


During the year, 1854, the territory gained wonderfully 
in population and wealth. Upon the extinguishment of 
the Indian title to lands south of the Platte, a rush was 
made across the Missouri river by speculators and home- 
hunters. Although a territorial government had been 
provided, it had not yet begun to be operative. The 
territorial officers did not arrive until October. In the 
absence of the legally appointed officers, there was no 
security to persons or property except such as could be 
enforced by the spontaneous, voluntary effort of the set¬ 
tlers. Claim-jumpers were common nuisances and the 
only method for the disposal of them was by “club-law.” 
The claimants of lands formed themselves into clubs, 
pledged to defend each other against speculators. It was 
often difficult to determine who were actual, and who 
factitious, claimants of the public domain; hence, it 
occasionally happened that the majority of a club would 
be speculators. When such was the case, the honest 
settler had no rights which the club was bound to respect. 
The enforcement of club-law, with all its uncertainties, 
constituted exciting epochs in the history of several 
counties. 

Settlements had already been made, as we have learned, 
in the counties of Washington, Douglas, Sarpy, Cass, 
Otoe and Nemaha. During this summer, additions were 
made to the number of settlers in those counties. On the 
29th of August, 1854, Richard Brown settled upon the 
present site of Brownville, which town was named for 
its pioneer. In the same year, Rev. Joel M. Wood 
preached the first sermon there, and afterwards organized 
a church society in the town. Very soon afterwards, in 
July, 1855, II. S. Thorpe opened the first school in Brown¬ 
ville, although the school district was not organized until 


i68 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


1856. In the year 1855 a ferry boat was put on the 
river and the town site of Brownville laid off. In the 
next year, Robert W. Furnas, afterwards governor of the 
state, began the publication of the Brownville Advertiser 
—the first number having been issued June *7, 1856. 
From the first, Brownville furnished a landing for steam¬ 
boats, and began a course of commercial prosperity and 
industrial development that continued until the railroad 
supplanted the waterway. Its trade extended, for many 
years, to the frontier settlements west of the Missouri 
river, as far as the Little Blue in the south-eastern part 
of the state. In 1856, less than two years after Richard 
Brown discovered it, it had two large general stores, a 
steam saw-mill, a lath and shingle mill, a cabinet shop, 
two blacksmith shops, a bank, a hotel, a school house, a 
court house, and many boarding houses and livery barns. 
Many other towns in the state grew as rapidly and as 
substantially as Brownville did. 

In the fall of 1854, W. A. Maddox, J. A. Singleton, 
and Messrs Hare and Roberts took up claims in Richard¬ 
son county, near Salem, and built cabins upon their claims. 
In the spring of 1855, they returned with their families 
and began life in Nebraska as farmers. About the same 
time a settlement was made on Half-Breed creek, in the 
north-eastern portion of the same county. 

In the summer of 1854, the Nebraska Colonization So¬ 
ciety was organized at Quincy, Illinois. In July, the 
committee appointed for that purpose, located the colony 
in Dodge county, and called the place Fontenelle, in 
honor of Logan Fontenelle, a half-breed Indian of high 
character. Most of the first settlers were Baptists, and 
they adopted measures to secure their religious denomi¬ 
nation in the fruits of their enterprise. At their request, 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


169 

the first territorial legislature incorporated The Nebraska 
University, at Fontenelle. Under this charter, a school 
was started at Fontenelle, land donated for the college, 
and building erected. For some reason unknown, the 
immigration of Baptists was discontinued, and the Con¬ 
gregational society stepped *11 and eventually gathered 
the harvest for which the Baptists had sowed the seed. 

Nebraska city was laid out in 1854, and so rapidly did 
it grow, that in 1858 it contained twenty-five stores and 
six church organizations. The Nebraska News was issued 
April 12, 1855, by Thomas Morton & Co. In January, 
1858, by act of the legislature, the three town sites, 
Nebraska City, South Nebraska City, and Kearney City, 
(the site of old Fort Kearney), were consolidated into 
Nebraska City. 

While Bellevue was laid out in 1854, it established a 
eity government as early as May, 1856, and cast five 
hundred votes at the fall election in 1857. Mr. D. E. 
Reed, the first school teacher at Bellevue, was chairman 
of the meeting that celebrated the Fourth of July, 1854, 
and he began the publication of the Nebraska Palladium , 
at Bellevue, July 15, thereafter. 

During 1855, many settlers came into Nebraska and 
made homes near the older settlements. There seem to 
have been but few new settlements opened. The struggle 
that had begun upon the plains of Kansas, to determine 
its status as a state, whether with slaves or without them, 
so attracted the earnest attention of the people east of the 
Missouri river that a less number gave heed to the stories 
of rich soil and grateful climate north of Kansas. The 
great mass, swayed by considerations of patriotism, or 
other sentiments, cast their lot into the turmoil and strife 
of that state. John Brown was one of the central figures 


170 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


in the excitements of the hour. It was during the year 
1855, that he surveyed and located a section of the 
“underground railroad,” connecting Kansas with Iowa. 
Its three stations were Falls City, Nemaha City and Ne¬ 
braska City. That the road was well patronized during 
the next five years is abundantly proven, and many stories 
are told of hair-breadth escapes, in which whites and 
blacks and officers of the general government played con¬ 
spicuous parts. 

In the meantime, some disturbance occurred among the 
Indians in the great northwest, in the western portion of 
the present Dakotas. As usual, the ripples of such dis¬ 
turbances reached out to the outer limits of the Indian 
settlements. The settlers of Nebraska felt the influence 
of that disturbance in June, 1855. Upon a Saturday of 
that month, a Mr. Porter and wife, and a Mr. George 
Demaree, of Fontenelle, had been breaking prairie on 
Bell creek, now in Washington county. As a sudden 
storm prevented their return to Fontenelle that evening, 
they encamped for the night. On Sunday morning, hear¬ 
ing reports of guns, which they presumed to be made by 
hunters from Fontenelle, they approached the place of the 
firing and found n large band of Sioux Indians. One 
brave rode up and took off Demaree’s hat. Demaree 
started toward his wagon for his rifle when another Indian 
rode up and shot at him; the bullet pierced the head of 
Mr. Demaree and also the breast of Mr. Porter, who hap¬ 
pened to be in range. Mrs. Porter sped to Fontenelle 
and raised the alarm. The Indians followed Mrs. Porter, 
but when they saw the preparations made by the settlers 
for their reception, they rode away. The bodies of 
Porter and Demaree were brought in, when it was found 
that the Indians had neglected to scalp Porter. Governor 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


171 

Izzard sent thirty men to Fontenelle for the assistance of 
the settlers. With this addition, the settlers were not 
able to raise over sixty men, and thus did not feel strong 
enough to follow the Indians. About this time a party 
of Sioux Indians fell in with a party of hunters and killed 
Logan Fontenelle, who had strayed from his party a Short 
distance. 

In connection with the Indian disturbances of the 
northwest, the general government sent an expedition in 
two divisions into that section known as the Big Powder 
Country. One expedition went in boats up the Missouri 
river to Fort Pierre, and thence overland. Quite a num¬ 
ber of the young men of Omaha accompanied this expe¬ 
dition; among them was Dr. George L. Miller, who went 
as surgeon. This portion of the expedition does not 
seem to have done anything that is directly connected 
with the history of Nebraska. 

The other section was under the command of 
General W. S. Harney, and consisted of six com¬ 
panies of infantry of the regular army. This force 
left Fort Riley, on the Kansas river, in August, 1855, 
traversed the valley of the Little Blue to Fort Kearney, 
and thence up the north branch of the Platte. They 
found a trader at O’Fallon’s Bluff, another at Old Jules- 
burg, and another one five miles north of Old Julesburg. 
A writer who accompanied this force says that for a dis¬ 
tance of two hundred or three hundred miles on the route 
to Julesburg not a tree was seen. 

The force reached the north branch of the Platte at 
Ash Hollow, in Deuel county. Here they crossed the 
river and met a party of Indians not far from the Blue, 
or Brule river, on which the Indians had their camp. 
These Indians had stopped a wagon train here. Gen. 


172 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


Harney attacked the Indians and completely defeated 
them, losing thirteen men, while the Indian loss was 
one hundred and twenty-six, besides prisoners and their 
camp. The soldiers encamped one day and night at 
Court House Rock, in Cheyenne county, and were at¬ 
tacked by an army of grass-hoppers,—the writer before 
quoted says that the air was so full of them as they 
arrived that one could hardly see the sun; that when they 
alighted, the ground was covered to an inch in depth, and 
that before night not a spear of grass was left for 
the animals of the trains. 

During 1856, settlers came into Nebraska in greater 
multitudes than in any previous year. The old settle¬ 
ments received large additions, and many new settlements 
were opened. In the summer, Benjamin B. Morse and 
family settled at Catharine, or Dead Timber, in Cuming 
county, near the Elkhorn. During the following winter 
the valley swarmed with game, and Mr. Morse and sons 
killed seventy deer, elk and antelope with axes for their 
only weapons. Later in the year, Joseph Stambaugh and 
family located a few miles west of Ashland, in Saunders 
county. The experience of this family reminds one of 
the experience of the early settlers in New England: 
“Scarcely were they settled upon their purchase ere they 
were compelled to leave it and seek protection and shelter 
among the settlers of Cass county. Their first house 
was burned by the red fiends.” In the following spring 
they built another house, and during the year 1857 
enough neighbors came around them to afford a sense 
of security. 

Early in 1856, Harry Huddleson opened a claim on 
Bazile creek, in Knox county. Soon afterward, D. C. 
Beam, B. Y. Shelley and others came to the mouth of 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


173 


the Niobrara, where they found R. R. Cowan and James 
Small already ahead of them, among a band of Indians. 
On the way to Niobrara this party found a colony of Irish 
Catholics comfortably settled in the Dakota bottom, near 
St. Johns, in Dakota county. How long a time the colony 
had been located is not stated. The Indians at the 
mouth of the Niobrara did not take kindly to their new 
neighbors. In the following winter they burned all the 
improvements which the whites had made, under the in* 
stigation of the French interpreter among them. They 
annoyed the settlers and destroyed their stock until they 
were removed to their reservation, north of the Niobrara. 

In this year two permanent settlements were made in 
Platte county. One was made by Isaac Albertson and 
E. W. Toncray on Shell creek, near the Platte river, and 
was named Buchanan. The other was made at Columbus, 
the town site of which was marked off May 28, 1856. 
Before the year closed there were twenty-seven settlers at 
Columbus. During the early summer, Rev. Reuben 
Gaylord started a private school in the interest of the 
Congregational church at Fontenelle. This school grew 
into a sort of seminary, and was merged into Nebraska 
University of Fontenelle, and thence into Doane College 
at Crete. 

As in most of the preceding years, a speck of an Indian > 
trouble appeared to disturb the prosperity of the settlers. 
The Pawnee villages were south of the Platte, but these 
Indians evidently claimed the land on the northern side of 
the river. On October 6, the Indians sent a delegation 
to the few settlers near Fremont to inform them that 
they must leave within three days. The settlers at once 
sent a messenger to Omaha to advise Governor lzzard of 
the state of affairs. The governor sent two boxes of 


j 74 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


army muskets and fourteen men to the help of the set¬ 
tlers. The army at Fremont even then numbered only 
twenty-two fighting men, but they were brave. They 
built a fort, appointed guards, displayed their guns and 
defied the Indians, but concealed the excessive smallness 
of their force. After the third day the Indians sent word 
that they had reconsidered their demand and would not 
molest the settlers. We are not informed whether the 
display of bravery or an over-estimate of the size of the 
Fremont army caused the Indians to withdraw the decla¬ 
ration of war. 

Settlements had already been made in Johnson county, 
and in this year John Maulding laid out the town of 
Tecumseh. The early experience of the town was not 
one of prosperity, for, at the outbreak of the rebellion in 
1861, the town contained barely one hundred people. 
In the meantime, some Mormons settled at Genoa, but 
the government drove them away at the request of the 
Indians, in whose reservation Genoa was situated. 

A settlement was made at DeWitt, about eight miles 
north-east of West Point, in 1857. Soon afterwards, 
Uriah Bruner and others came into Cuming county. 
Early in the same year a settlement was made at Blue 
Springs, Gage county, by James H. Johnson, Jacob Poff 
and others. Soon after, later in the summer, a party from 
St. Louis located on the beautiful elevation where Beat¬ 
rice now stands, and named the place for the daughter 
of Judge John F. Kinney, one of the party. Gage 
county was organized in July of the same year, and cast 
thirty-three votes at the election for county seat, July 16. 
A few settlers, among them C. C. Van and James Hay, 
took up claims at St. James, in Cedar county. In the 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 175 

following spring, others located at St. Helena and Wau- 
capona and at other places in the county. 

In October of this year, 1857, the first association of Con¬ 
gregational churches was held. The association consisted 
of the churches at Fontenelle, Fremont and Omaha. The 
subject of higher education was one topic of considera¬ 
tion. In February following, the Nebraska university of 
Fontenelle was formally transferred to the Congregational 
association. Lands were donated, a building erected and 
an endowment begun to be collected. The university 
struggled against the current of adverse circumstances. 
The stream of migration had left the road leading to 
Fontenelle, and the county seat, once the pride and 
and promise of Fontenelle, had gone to Fremont, and 
Fontenelle itself set off into Washington county, near 
whose western boundary it became a frontier town. 

In February, 1857, the whites attacked a band of In¬ 
dians near Eight Mile Grove, in Cass county. One 
Indian was wounded and three captured, and fifteen 
ponies were also captured. In a few days one hundred 
Indians came to Plattsmouth and demanded the captured 
men and ponies, which were cheerfully delivered. There 
was no provocation for this attack, so far as it can be 
learned. 

Another newspaper was established at Omaha during 
this year called the Omaha Weekly Times. Its first issue 
appeared June 11. 

In the year 1852, a faint and uncertain rumor flew over 
the land to the effect that gold had been discovered at 
the mouth of Clear creek (near Denver). Very little 
attention was given to the rumor on account of its faint¬ 
ness, and because the clamorous calls from the gold fields 
of California were yet reverberating through the air. 


176 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


Early in 1858, however, another prospector verified the 
early rumor. By November, there were not less than 
four hundred gold hunters on Clear creek. Denver was 
soon laid out as a town, and the crowds continued to- 
arrive. The gold hunters from the northern states mostly 
traversed the plains of Nebraska, either along the Platte^ 
or on the divide between the Platte and Little Blue, and 
along the Republican. This flood of emigrants left a 
great deal of money in the territory, and often an emi¬ 
grant would become disheartened, drop out from the 
stream, and become a settler in Nebraska. A whole 
party of discouraged gold hunters took themselves out of 
the stream, at West Mills, Seward county, in 1859, and 
laid the foundation of that settlement of prosperous 
farmers on the West Blue. In the following year, set¬ 
tlements were made at Milford and Seward and one just 
below Milford, on the West Blue, in Saline county. 

Nebraska did not escape the depressing effects of the 
financial revulsion of 1857-8. The early legislatures of 
the territory incorporated a greater number of banks than 
the demands of business justified. In 1855, the Western 
Fire and Marine Insurance and Exchange Company, was 
incorporated. Though nominally an insurance company, 
it was in fact a bank. In 1856, the legislature gave life to 
the Platte Valiev Bank of Nebraska City; the Fontenelle 
Bank of Bellevue; the Bank of Florence; the State Bank 
of Nebraska, at Omaha; and the Nemaha Valley Bank, 
at Brownville; the Bank of DeSota and the Bank of 
Tekamah were incorporated early in the following year. 
There seemed to be very little restrictions in respect 
to the amount of currency that might be issued, and 
the other safeguards of prudence were not thrown around 
the operations of the banks. As a result, the panic of 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


177 


1857 found nearly all the banks named above unprepared. 
The bank of Nebraska City was the only one that stood 
up under the storm. Of course the people suffered ex¬ 
tremely by these failures, for nearly all the currency 
used in the territory was furnished by these banks. 

One of the most noted Indian troubles in the territory 
occurred in 1859, and w T as known as the “Pawnee War.” 1 
It was not a very bloody war, but it excited a great deal 
of interest among the settlers north of the Platte. Its 
details have been written at length by several participants 
in its movements, but its salient points may be stated in a 
few paragraphs. 

Several years before this, the Sioux had fallen upon the 
Pawnees, at their village on the southern bank of the 
Platte, had slain a large number of the warriors, women 
and children, and had driven off a portion of their stock. 
In 1858, twelve bucks of the Pawnees went from their 
camp near Fremont, into the Sioux country for revenge. 
The Sioux ambushed them, and killed all but one. Him 
they sent home, with ears slit and his body otherwise 
scarified, to report the result of the attempt at revenge. 
The Pawnees do not seem to have made any sign until 
June, 1859, when, the Sioux again menacing them, they 
moved northward in force, after having made an alliance 
with the Omahas, w T ho were to join the Pawnees 011 the 
Elkhorn river. On the 29th of June, the Pawnees en¬ 
camped on Cuming creek in Dodge county, and made a 
raid upon the stock farm of Capt. Thomas S. Park, and 
drove off stock valued at tw r elve hundred dollars. In pass¬ 
ing up the valley of the Elkhorn, the Indians continued 
their depredations, taking cattle and other food-supplies. 
They do not seem to have tried to destroy other property, 
nor to have molested the settlers otherwise. 

13 


178 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


The settlers were shortly aroused, and Governor Black 
sent a volunteer force of twenty-five men to help them. 
The united force overtook the Indians at DeWitt, and a 
skirmish ensued. Three Indians were killed, and Dr. 
Peters was wounded. Gen. John M. Thayer with a small 
volunteer force soon reached Fontenelle. In the mean¬ 
time, a company of forty men was raised at 'Fremont, 
with Capt. R. W. Ilazen in command. This company 
joined Gen. Thayer’s force at Maple creek, on the 5th 
of July.* On the next day a short distance beyond, they 
were joined by Governor Black with more volunteers and 
some U. S. troops. The whole force now numbered 
about two hundred men. 

The white troops soon came up with the Omaha In¬ 
dians, who were friendly. An arrangement was then 
made by which the Omahas were to abandon the Pawnees 
and to guide the troops to the Pawnee camp. Early on 
the morning of the 6th, they reached the camp of the 
Pawnees, situate on Battle creek, in Madison county. It 
is said that the railroad station is now situate on the spot 
of that camp. When the Indians discovered the approach 
of the white troops, an Indian chief came riding up and 
a sergeant shot at him with a pistol, but did no injury. 
The chief then threw away his bow and arrows and ex¬ 
claimed: “ Me no fight.” Another chief displayed the 
American flag in the camp. A parley then ensued. The 
Indians did not deny the depredation which they had 
committed, but pleaded the necessities of war and their 
own poverty. After the parley, they delivered up the 
six who had been most prominent in the depredations. 
One of these had been wounded, and afterwards died. 
The other five escaped before the volunteers reached 
home. 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


179 


Thus was terminated, with very little bloodshed, but 
with great expense to the territory, what at first promised 
to be a very ugly phase of Indian strife. 

The subject of slavery, in its connection with the 
history of Nebraska, has an importance that justifies the 
presentation of the entire subject together, out of its 
order of time. 

The provision of the organic act concerning slaves 
and slavery was in these words: “It being the true 
intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery 
into any territory or state, nor to exclude it therefrom, 
but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and 
regulate their domestic institutions m their own way, 
subject only to the constitution of the United States.” 

As a consequence of the neutral position assumed by 
the general government upon this question, it would seem 
that legislation in respect to slavery in the territory came 
within the jurisdiction of the territorial legislature as 
much as did any other subject of local law. Many of 
the territorial officers brought slaves into the territory, 
and in many other instances there were known to be per¬ 
sons held as slaves in the territory before the legislature 
had taken any action in the matter. The pro-slavery 
men took the first action on the subject. On February 
0, 1857,. a bill was read a first time in the senate pro¬ 
viding that “ no free negro or mulatto shall be permitted 
to emigrate to, or to take up his abode in this territory,” 
and imposing a fine of ten dollars and imprisonment. 
The fate of the bill is not recorded, but, not long after¬ 
wards, a bill from the house covering the same subject 
was tabled by the senate. 

Until after this event, there had been no distinctively 
partisan politics in the territory. Early in June, 1858, 


l8o HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 

there was a formal organization of the democratic party* 
which was as inharmonious as the party in the states* 
The republicans began a formative organization late in 
October; but no general organization was effected until 
August, 1859. The slavery question was the subject of 
contention between the two parties, and the quantity of 
authority which the people of the territories could exercise 
over slavery was the cause of trouble in the democratic 
party. The Douglas democrats eventually followed the 
republicans, leaving the organization of the democratic 
party in the hands of those who held with President 
Buchanan that slavery existed in Nebraska without any 
action on the part of the people. 

The republican leaders determined to force the issue of 
slavery to the front, so that the political standing of all 
prominent men might be known. Accordingly, on No¬ 
vember 1 , 1858, Samuel G. Daily presented “ a bill for 
an act to abolish slavery in the territory of Nebraska.” 
The committee to whom the bill was referred presented 
majority and minority reports. The minority report 
denied the existence of slavery in the territory in “ any 
practical form;” denied that slavery could exist here ex¬ 
cept in accordance to “affirmative legislation,” and 
criticised the bill as unwise and unpatriotic. Both reports- 
were tabled, and the bill died without action. 

The subject continued to agitate the public mind, and* 
at the next session, December 7, 1859, William H. Tay¬ 
lor presented another bill of the same character to the 
senate, and T. M. Marquette, a duplicate to the house* 
Nothing was done with the bill in the senate; but the 
house passed Marquette’s bill. In attacking the bill, Dr. 
George L. Miller denied that practical slavery existed in 
the territory. In the senate, a joint resolution, denying 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


1S1 


that there was danger that slavery would enter the terri¬ 
tory, asserting the right of the legislature to act in the 
matter of slavery, and pledging the legislature to oppose 
the agitation of the question, was adopted by both houses 
January 3, 1860. Governor Black vetoed the resolutions on 
the ground, that under the treaty by which Louisiana was 
acquired, slavery could not be prohibited in the territory. 
D.uring the same session, Mr. Nuckolls, of Richardson 
county, presented a bill prohibiting the immigration of 
free negroes into the territory. The Douglas democrats 
united with the republicans in killing the bill. 

Let us pause to consider a few facts in regard to the 
existence of “practical slavery” in the territory. During 
the summer of 1860, a colored woman named Eliza, held 
by Mr. Nuckolls of Nebraska City, as a slave, escaped 
from Nebraska and was captured in Chicago. A mob of 
whites and blacks rescued her, and the affair terminated 
in a law suit known as the “Chicago rescue case.” Dur¬ 
ing this year, there were several suits in Iowa courts 
growing out of attempts of slaves in Nebraska to escape. 
In one case, a citizen of Nebraska, in pursuit of a run¬ 
away slave, had broken into the house of a citizen of 
Iowa to search for the fugitive. Nebraska City is said 
to have lost some of its trade by reason of the disputes 
growing out of the ownership of slaves. Late in the year 
of 1860 an advertisement appeared in a papef in Nebraska 
City announcing that the sheriff of Otoe county, under 
an execution in favor of William B. Hall, and against 
Charles F. Holley, would, on December 5, sell the fol¬ 
lowing described property, to-wit: “One Negro man 
and one Negro woman, known as Hercules and Martha.” 
The two negroes were bidden in by the plaintiff, Hall. 


i 82 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


These facts would seem to show that there was a “prac¬ 
tical form” to the slavery existing in Nebraska. 

In the legislature that convened in December, 1860, 
bills were again introduced for the abolition of slavery 
in the territory. The opposition to the bill was yet spir¬ 
ited, but less effectual than formerly. One bill passed 
rapidly through the two houses, was vetoed by the gov¬ 
ernor on the same ground, substantially, that he had 
vetoed the former bill. The republicans and Douglas 
democrats now constituted a majority of each house, and 
on January 5, 1861, the bill became a law over the gov¬ 
ernor’s veto. 

Considering the classes of people by whom Nebraska 
was settled, it may well be thought that the opening and 
progress of the war of the rebellion were regarded by 
them with keen interest. Early in the summer of 1861 
several companies of men, for protection against possible 
Indian defections, were organized in different parts of 
the territory. In June the nucleus of a regiment was 
formed, and companies began to be mustered into the ser¬ 
vice of the United States for the organization of the 1st 
Nebraska infantry. The regiment was fully completed 
in July, 22d, by the entrance of the final company. John 
M. Thayer was commissioned colonel of the regiment. 
This regiment moved southward July 30th, and joined 
the movement against Price, under Fremont. They did 
duty as scouts and vedettes, in the southern part of Mis¬ 
souri, until they were sent with the army for the reduc¬ 
tion of Ft. Henry. At Ft. Donaldson, whither they 
next were sent, they received the baptism of fire in a reg¬ 
ular battle, and bore themselves in an admirable spirit. 
The regiment participated in the battle of Pittsburg 
Landing, April 7, and did some hard fighting on that 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


183 


noted day. They took part in the advance and capture 
of Corinth, and then, later in the summer, were sent to 
Arkansas. Here the regiment was transformed into a 
cavalry regiment and became the 1st Nebraska cavalry. 

The history of the regiment among the mountains of 
Arkansas presents a series of marches, scouts, small en¬ 
gagements, successes and defeats, and a steady advance 
into the confidence of the commanding officers for relia¬ 
bility and efficiency. The portion of the regiment that 
re-enlisted as veterans in 1864, was sent to the western 
portion of the state, where efficient duty was done in 
protecting its settlements from invasions of hostile Indians. 

In December, 1861, the “ Curtis Horse ” was organized, 
comprising four companies from Nebraska, three from 
Minnesota, two from Missouri and three from Iowa. W. 
W. Lowe was the colonel. Two days after the capture 
of Fort Henry, it arrived on the ground, and thereafter 
did good work, moving in detachments in many directions 
for the destruction of bridges, railroads or rebel squads. 
The majority of the men in the regiment were residents 
of Iowa, and in June, 1862, it was assigned to Iowa as 
the 5th Iowa cavalry. The regiment did excellent service 
during the war, in middle and southern Tennessee, as 
guards, raiders and fighters. Near the close of the year, 
it assisted in clearing the rebel boats out of the Tennessee 
river. It participated in July in the famous Rousseau 
raid, from Tennessee into Alabama, defeating a rebel 
force on the Coosa river, made famous as the place of 
passage of troops under Jackson in the Creek war. It 
bore its share of peril and service in McCook’s raid upon 
Lovejoy Station and Kilpatrick’s raid among the railroads 
of Georgia, and in Gen. J. H. Wilson’s raid into central 
Alabama and Georgia. 


184 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


On November 28, 1864, the brigade, of which the 5th 
Iowa constituted a part, was cut off from the army by a 
detachment of rebels, which they could not evade on ac¬ 
count of Duck river in its rear. Col. Capron had re¬ 
ported to General Wilson that the brigade was captured. 
Finding Col. Capron absent, Major Young, of the 5th 
Iowa, assumed command and his clear voice rang out in 
clarion notes: “The 5th Iowa is going straight through; 
let the brave follow. Forward.” In five minutes, the 
rebel line was reached. The bugle sound, “Charge,” and 
Major Young’s voice sounded, “Forward.” The rebel 
line was trampled down and the brigade reported its es¬ 
cape at headquarters. The regiment aided in the disper¬ 
sion of Hood’s army at Franklin. While but a small 
portion of the regiment consisted of men of Nebraska, 
its deeds constitute a portion of the history of the state. 

The 2d Nebraska cavalry was organized in the fall of 
1862, as a protection from the Indians whom rebel emis¬ 
saries were instigating to deeds of depredation and blood. 
R. W. Furnas was its colonel. The regiment was not 
completed until the spring of 1863. In April of that 
year, it was sent to join the expedition of General Sully, 
who was operating against the hostile Indians of the 
upper Missouri river. On the third of September, while 
a detachment of the army was hunting buffaloes, it came 
upon a camp of the hostile Indians, in a ravine. Having 
early notice of the “find,” General Sully hurried his 
troops forward. I 11 his report of the engagement, Gen¬ 
eral Sully says: “I ordered Colonel Furnas,” (the 2d Ne¬ 
braska was on the right wing,) “to push his horses to the 
utmost, so as to reach the camp and assist Major House 
in keeping the Indians corralled. This order was obeyed 
with great alacrity, the regiment going over the plains at 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 1 85 

a full run. * * I was close upon the rear of the regi¬ 

ment with the 6th Iowa. The 2d Nebraska took to the 
right of the camp, and was soon lost in a cloud of dust 
over the hills.” After a severe fight of short duration, 
although it extended into the night, the Indians broke and 
fled in all directions. General Sully again says: “During 
the engagement, for some time, the 2d Nebraska, afoot 
and armed with rifles, (and there are among them probably 
some of the best shots in the world), were engaged with 
the enemy at a distance of not over sixty paces, pouring 
on them a murderous fire in the ravine where they were 
posted. The slaughter therefore must have been im¬ 
mense.” The Indians lost two hundred killed and one 
hundred and fifty Indians, with all their camp provisions 
and most of their ponies captured. The Americans lost 
twenty slain and twenty-eight wounded, of which the 2d 
Nebraska lost seven killed, fourteen wounded and two 
missing. The battle was two hundred and twenty miles 
north-east of Fort Pierre, in South Dakota, and is known 
as the battle of the White Stone Hills. This defeat 
cured the Indians of their rebellious disease, and the 2d 
Nebraska was soon afterwards mustered out of service. 

Upon the muster out of the 2d Nebraska cavalry a bat¬ 
talion of veteran cavalry of four companies was formed 
and assigned for duty in the western portion of the state. 

The general government and the department com¬ 
manders, upon several occasions, testified, in general or¬ 
ders, their appreciation of the efficiency and ability of 
the Nebraska soldiers who aided in various ways to pre¬ 
serve the union of states intact, and the legislature of the 
territory, in 1864, expressed its appreciation, by joint 
resolution, of the heroism and self-sacrifice, as well as 
spirit, of the many Nebraska soldiers of that conflict. 


1 86 HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 

Considering the population of the territory and the re¬ 
centness of its settlement, the number of soldiers which it 
sent to the war in various directions is remarkable. 

In the meantime, settlers continued to come into the 
territory, although not in such numbers nor with such 
purposes as formerly. The rebellion drew into its vortex 
the enterprising men of the east, leaving but few in the 
northern states prepared to migrate into a new country. 
On the other hand, many from northern states came west 
to escape the draft, and the dangers in the border states 
of Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee drove out many 
good Union families, but drove out more who were dis¬ 
loyal but not brave enough to fight for their sentiments. 
Many violent rebels from Missouri, and some from other 
southern states, came to Nebraska City, Brownville and 
other Missouri river towns, and a few went as far west as 
Salt creek, in Lancaster county. In nearly all these 
places they were insolent and offensive, so much so that 
the loyal settlers were constrained to organize in self de¬ 
fense, the effect of which was that the fugitive rebels 
saw the advantages of less noise. 

During the war of the rebellion, the settlers on the 
frontier, in Kansas and Nebraska, were constantly ex¬ 
posed to Indian depredation and attack. The natural an¬ 
tagonism between the Indian and the white settler was 
intensified during the war. The leaders of the rebellion 
saw the advantages to them in fomenting an Indian war 
on the borders of the north, and their active emissaries 
were constantly among the Indians, urging them to activ¬ 
ity. The government was able, by a menacing force, to 
check the plans of the rebel leaders in some degree, only. 

An Indian attack upon the settlers of Salt creek, along 
its entire course, was reported in 1862 , but the attack was 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


187 


imaginary, although there were Indians along the creek. 
Though the reports w T ere unfounded in fact, they served 
to keep the settlers west of the Missouri in a condition of 
apprehension, and also restrained the migration of new 
settlers. 

In 1864 an actual inroad was made by the Indians. 
The reports of the Minnesota massacre had considerably 
excited the Indians near Nebraska and Kansas, and im¬ 
pelled some of them to the war path. In the summer the 
Cheyennes attacked a train near Plum Creek (now Lex¬ 
ington) and killed several men. These Indians then 
crossed the Platte, moved eastward south of Ft. Kearney 
and passed down the Little Blue. In their journey they 
passed through the counties of Kearney, Adams, Clay 
and Thayer, burning property, attacking, killing and 
mutilating people as far east as Ewbank’s ranch on 
the Little Blue. They also carried away with them two 
women who were ransomed the following year. Return¬ 
ing, the Cheyennes attacked the 'Tth Iowa cavalry at 
Pawnee ranch and drove the soldiers into Ft. Kearney. 
The main body of the Indians then moved southward across 
the Republican into Kansas, and was subsequently almost 
annihilated by Colonel Chivington in a night attack. 

The first session of the legislature was held at Omaha, 
January, 16, 1855. In the senate (or council), J. L. 
Sharp was president, and Dr. George L. Miller, chief 
clerk. In the house, A. J. Hanscom was speaker and J. 
W. Paddock, chief clerk. The legislature at once pro¬ 
ceeded to business; the capital was located permanently 
at Omaha, and the local machinery of government pro¬ 
vided, and the delegate to congress was instructed to urge 
the passage of a homestead law for Nebraska. As this 
was one of the earliest movements in the direction of a 


i88 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


homestead law, it is worthy of note here, that, after the 
passage of the homestead law by congress, the first entry 
made under it was in this state,—in Gage county, on 
Cub creek, four miles west of Beatrice, by Daniel Free¬ 
man. The patent is “number 1 is recorded in volume 
1, on page 1, of the homestead records of the land office 
at Washington. The legislature proceeded to charter 
banks, insurance companies, colleges, towns, bridge com¬ 
panies, ferries and railroads. 

In 1855, another census was taken, which seems to have 
be.en more honest than that of 1854. It shows a marked 
gain in population and w T ealth. The distribution of 
population was as follows: 

Burt. 85 Dodge. 139 

Dakota. * . 86 Nemaha. 604 

Douglas. 1,028 Pawnee. 142 

Otoe.1,188 Washington. 207 

Richardson. 299 - 

Oass. 712 4,491 

The auditor’s report shows that the valuation of 
property in the territory that year was $617,822.00. 

During the territorial condition of Nebraska, it had 
five governors and two acting-governors as follows: 

Francis Burt took the oath of office October 16, and 
died October 18, 1854. Thomas B. Cuming, the secretary, 
became acting governor until the arrival of Governor 
Burt’s successor. 

Mark W. Izzard assumed the duties of governor, Feb¬ 
ruary 20, 1855, and resigned early in the session of the 
legislature, which convened December 8, 1857. The 
secretary, Thomas B. Cuming, became acting governor 
until the arrival of Governor Izzard’s successor. 

William A. Richardson assumed the duties of governor 
January 12, 1858, and resigned December 5, of the same 
year. During the time from his resignation until the arrival 












HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 189 

of Lis successor, the secretary, J. Sterling Morton, acted 
as governor. 

Samuel W. Black arrived May 2, 1859, and at once 
assumed the office of governor. On the 24 of February, 
1861, the governor resigned, and J. Sterling Morton 
acted in his place until the arrival of his successor. 

Alvin Saunders assumed the office of governor, May 15, 
1861, and continued in the office until the territory was 
admitted as a state, March 1 , 1867. 


During its territorial status, Nebraska was represented 
in the congress of the United States by the following 
delegates: 


Napoleon P. Giddings, 

term 

ending March 

4, 1855 

Bird B. Chapman, 

t c 

<< 


“ 1857 

Fenner Ferguson, 

a 

<« 

(t 

“ 1859 

Experience Estabrook, 

a 

n 


“ 1861 

Samuel G. Daily, 

( c 

i < 

a 

“ 1865 

Phineas W. Hitchcock, 

c i 


a 

1, 1867 


CHAPTER V.—THE STATE OF NEBRASKA. 

The people of a territory usually look earnestly toward 
a state organization long before congress or the people of 
the states deem them entitled to it. There are disadvan¬ 
tages as well as advantages in a territorial government. 
The general officers of a territory are appointed by the 
president, usually with little regard to the wishes or 
interests of the people of the territory. Nearly all the 
forms of government are devised by congress with little 
knowledge or appreciation of the needs or habits of the 
people, at the same time that congress may veto any act 
passed by the territorial legislature. As a compensation, 
in part at least, the general government defrays the ex- 


190 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


penses of the territorial government. But experience has 
made it plain to all that people care but little about the 
amount of their taxes if they may themselves levy them 
as an act of self-government. It was not the amount of 
ship-money to which Hampden objected,* as it was the fact 
that the levy was arbitrarily made. It was not the 
amount of the tax upon tea against which our colonial 
fathers contended, as it w T as the parliamentary claim to 
the right to levy it without the consent of the colonies. 

The people of Nebraska were human and they desired 
to enjoy the exhilarating sensation of self-government. 
At the beginning of the session of the legislature of 1859, 
an attempt was made to change from the condition of a 
territory to that of a state. I 11 the early days of Decem¬ 
ber, a bill was presented to each house authorizing a vote 
upon the proposition to call a convention for framing a 
constitution. Congress had not authorized this action, 
but, as no particular mode of action has been prescribed for 
such movements, the people had justification for their 
method of procedure. A bill for the convention and 
vote became a law January 4, 1860, and a vote was taken 
March 5. There was serious opposition to the measure, 
especially by those who cared more for the rate of tax¬ 
ation than for the principle of self-government, and by 
several other classes whose motives were mostly political. 
The total population of the territory hardly exceeded 
twenty-eight thousand, and there was little probability 
that congress would invest so small a number of people 
with statehood. The vote cast for the convention was 
2,095; against the convention, 2,372; so the attempt was 
a failure. 

During the session of the congress of 1862-3, a bill 
was presented authorizing Nebraska to take the prelimin- 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. I 9 I 

ary steps toward the assumption of statehood. The ses¬ 
sion closed before final action was taken. 

Later, in 1864, April 19th, an act of congress was 
passed authorizing the territory of Nebraska to frame a 
constitution preparatory to admittance into the Union as 
a state. At that time, the continuance of the war for the 
Union, and the consequent disturbance of Indian affairs, 
rendered this permission not desirable. Under the drain 
of men and money for the suppression of Indian hostil- 
ties, and for the support of the Union army in the more 
extended field of war movements, the people felt too 
poor in men and money for the increased responsibilities 
which statehood would impose. But after the return of 
peace, and the renewal of immigration, and the sequent 
influx of wealth, the people re-awoke to the conscious¬ 
ness of the value of a state government. Accordingly, 
February 9, 1866, a convention was authorized, and a 
constitution was framed and submitted to the people 
June 2, 1866, for approval or disapproval. The people, 
by a vote of 3,938 to 3,838 adopted the state charter. At 
this election, a member of congress was elected to serve 
for the residue of the term then ensuing, and T. M. Mar¬ 
quette was elected by 4,821 votes over J. Sterling Mor¬ 
ton who had 4,105 votes. 

The first election for state officers and for members of 
the legislature was held June 2, 1866, and the following 
were elected to the offices indicated: 

Governor, David Butler. 

Secretary of State, Thomas P. Kennard. 

Auditor, John Gillespie. 

Treasurer, Augustus Kountze. 

Attorney General, Champion S. Chase. 

Member of Congress, John Taffe. 


192 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


The newly adopted constitution provided for a session 
of the first legislature July 4, 1866. The legislature con¬ 
vened at that date and provided the machinery for a state 
government and elected the United States senators. In 
the contest for senatorial honors and distinction the “boys- 
in blue,” were successful, and both prizes were awarded 
to the 1st regiment of Nebraska volunteers. Gen. John 
M. Thayer, the first colonel, and Rev. Thomas W. Tip- 
ton, the chaplain of that regiment, were elected senators. 

When congress convened, in December, another bill was 
presented for the admission of Nebraska, and it was 
passed in January following. President Johnson promptly 
vetoed the bill and both houses of congress as promptly 
passed it over the veto. The constitution of the state, as 
adopted in 1866, restricted the elective franchise to white- 
persons. As slavery had already been abolished, and as 
the sentiment of those who had defended the Union 
against the rebellion was already favorable to an invest¬ 
ment of the negro with the elective franchise, this pro¬ 
vision was felt to be out of harmony with the new order 
of things. Accordingly Charles Sumner moved a proviso- 
which was adopted to the effect that the newly organized 
state should, by its legislature, assent to the fundamental 
condition that, in the State of Nebraska there should be 
no denial of the elective franchise or of any other right to 
any person by reason of race or color, excepting Indians 
not taxed. A special session of the legislature was held, 
February 20, 1867, to pass upon the condition imposed by 
congress. The legislature speedily accepted the condi¬ 
tion. The act authorizing the admission of Nebraska 
provided that in case the state should assent to the con¬ 
dition imposed, the president, upon proper proof to him, 
should issue his proclamation, announcing that fact and 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


T 93 


the due admission of Nebraska to statehood. The procla¬ 
mation was issued March 1, 1867, on which date Nebraska 
became a state. 


The terms of members of congress expire March 4 in 
each odd-numbered year. Mr. Marquette had been elected 
to the house when the constitution was adopted, and at 
the first election, under the constitution, John Taffe had 
been elected to the house. Logically then, Mr. Marquette’s 
term would expire in three days after the admission of 
the state. lie presented his credentials and served those 
three days. The senators-elect did not present their cre¬ 
dentials until after March 4, and thus they served two 
years longer than they would have done had they begun 
service with Mr. Marquette. 

When the territory was formed, Bellevue was the most 
populous town and aspired to the possession of the terri¬ 
torial capital, but actiug-Governor Cuming chose Omaha 
for that honor, and the first legislative session confirmed 
that choice. Thereafter, those who asserted that Belle- 
vue had been deprived of the capital by undue influence 
did not rest from their efforts to remove the capital from 
Omaha. Several severe and protracted legislative conflicts 
ensued, but Omaha was able to hold the prize against 
all comers. By the time that Nebraska assumed state¬ 
hood, the country south of the Platte had outstripped the 
country north in population, while the majority of each 
branch of the legislature had been furnished during all 
the territorial days by the country north. The first legis¬ 
lature under the state organization made a re-apportion¬ 
ment of members of the legislature in accordance to the 
distribution of population, and started the movement 
looking toward a re-location of the state capital. The 
governor, secretary of state and auditor were selected for 

14 


*94 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


commissioners, and were directed to select a suitable site, 
not less than six hundred and forty acres, within the 
county of Seward, the south half of either Butler, or 
Saunders, or the northern portion of Lancaster. The bill 
did not pass without serious opposition. The commis¬ 
sioners selected the present site of Lincoln, which was 
named by the bill, in honor of President Abraham Lin¬ 
coln. The commissioners at once, after the selection of 
the site, began the sale of lots, and entered into contracts 
for the erection of the capitol building. The next state 
legislature held its session in the new building at Lincoln, 
January, 1869. 

During the early years of state history, there was more 
or less irregularity in the system of keeping accounts, in¬ 
efficiency in officers and variety in the details of official 
routine. The result of all which was that officials, 
through carelessness, inexpertness and unbusiness methods, 
seemed to be defaulters or embezzlers. Nearly all new 
states have passed through the same stage of inefficiency 
and consequent trouble. In the disposition of the school 
funds, there were irregularities and disregard of forms 
and conditions prescribed by law, on the part of the gov¬ 
ernor. As was proper enough, the legislature looked into 
the matter, and, in February, 1871, the house prepared 
articles of impeachment against Governor Butler. These 
articles were sent to the senate, March 1. On the first day 
of June, following, after a trial continuing nearly six 
weeks, the governor was declared guilty of unlawfully and 
corruptly neglecting to discharge his duties in regard to 
the disposition of some portion of the school fund, and 
not guilty on all the other charges. By this conviction 
Governor Butler w r as deprived of his office, and the secre¬ 
tary of state, William II. James, became acting-governor, 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


T 95 


and continued so to act until the inauguration of Governor 
Furnas. It seems to be conceded by most fair-minded 
men of the state that Governor Butler, who was a man of 
easy nature, disposed to aid friends, political and personal, 
derived no personal pecuniary benefit from the lost school 
funds. The sentiment toward the governor gradually as¬ 
sumed an attitude of sympathy for him, in the finahcial 
misfortunes that crowded upon him after his conviction. 
In 1877, therefore, the legislature ordered the records of 
the impeachment and trial to be expunged from the jour¬ 
nals of the two houses. 

As the state increased in wealth and population, the 
constitution of 1866 was found to be too narrow and re¬ 
strictive, and, as early as 1871, a strong sentiment de¬ 
veloped in favor of a new and broader constitution. Ac¬ 
cordingly a convention was voted to be held, and a new 
constitution was framed. Upon its submission to a vote, 
it was rejected by a vote of 7,686 to 8,627. But the agi¬ 
tation for a new and better constitution continued. The 
legislature of 1873, therefore, submitted the question of 
another constitutional convention. The vote was taken 
at the regular election in 1874, and, at the session of Jan" 
uary, following, the legislature provided for a convention 
to be held early in the summer. The constitution framed 
by that body was approved at the October election by 
30,202 to 5,474. This is the constitution under which the 
people of Nebraska now live. 

The Indian troubles, known as the “Great Sioux War 
of 1890-1,” has some relation to the history of Nebraska. 
The drouth and consequent failure of crops were general 
in the west, and affected the Indians as well as whites in 
that section. This misfortune, to which was added the 
failure of the Federal government to supply the rations 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


I96 

promised, produced actual suffering among the Indians in 
the south-western portion of South Dakota. The long 
cold winter was at hand and they were in actual need of 
food. Word was sent out by some of their medicine men 
that the Great Spirit would send a Messiah to help them 
out of their sufferings. Ghost dances were instituted to 
prepare the Indians for the coming of the Messiah. Ex¬ 
citement and enthusiasm spread from tribe to tribe, even 
to remote settlements. These ghost dances seem to have 
frightened the Indian agents and their employes, and ex¬ 
aggerated accounts of the actions and purpbses of the 
Indians were sent to Washington. Troops were sent to 
the Pine Ridge Agency, in South Dakota, for the protec¬ 
tion of the government officers and to serve as a menace 
to the Indians. In course of time, the troops came into 
collision with the Indians and a serious conflict seemed to 
impend. 

As the Indian agencies were very near to the border of 
Nebraska, Governor Thayer, January 2, 1891, directed 
the Nebraska National Guard to be in readiness to march 
on short notice to the north-western part of the state for 
the protection of the people of the state. The two regi¬ 
ments of infantry began to move two days afterwards. 
The troops of the state were stationed along the northern 
line of the state in such locations as would serve for the 
protection of the people and property of Nebraska in 
case the Indians would move southward in force. 

The massacre at the Indian camp on Wounded Knee 
creek on the 29th of December, was followed by a skir¬ 
mish on the same creek January 5, between the United 
States troops and the Indians. I 11 the meantime, confer¬ 
ences were held between the Indian chiefs and General 
Miles, commanding the United States forces, resulting in 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


I 9 7 


the final surrender of the Indians under a sort of treaty, 
on the 15th of January. The war was short, but very 
exciting, and the boys of the Nebraska National Guard 
did duty as guards and pickets after the manner of veteran 
soldiers. 

The governors of Nebraska, since its admission as a 
state, and the date of the beginnings of their terms, are as 
follows: 

David Butler, March 1, 1867. 

Win. II. James, June 2, 1871. 

Robert W. Furnas, January 13, 1873. 

Silas Garber, January 11, 1875. 

Albinus Nance, January 9, 1879. 

James W. Dawes, January 4, 1883. 

John M. Thayer, January 6, 1887. 

James E. Boyd, January 10, 1891. 

During the the same time the senators and members 
of the house of representatives have been as follows, with 
the beginnings of their terms: 

Senators— 

John M. Thayer, March 4, 1867. 

Thomas W. Tipton, March 4, 1867. 

Phineas W. Hitchcock, March 4, 1871. 

Algernon S. Paddock, March 4, 1875. 

Alvin Saunders, March 4, 1877. 

Charles II. VanWyck, March 4, 1881. 

Charles F. Manderson, March 4, 18841. 

Algernon S. Paddock, March 4, 1887. 

Members of house— 

T. M. Marquette, March 2, 1867. 

John Taffe, March 4, 1867. 

Lorenzo Crounse, March 4, 1873. 

Frank Welsh, March 4, 1877. 


198 


HISTORY OF NEBRASKA. 


Thomas J. Majors, December 2, 1878. 

Edward K. Valentine, March 4, 1879. 

Upon the division of the state into three congressional 
districts, after the United States census of 1880, the fol¬ 
lowing members of the house have been elected. 

First District:— 

A. J. Weaver, March 4, 1883. 

John A. McShane, March 4, 1887. 

William J. Connell, March 4, 1889. 

William J. Bryan, March 4, 1891. 

Second District:— 


James Laird, March 4, 1883. 

Gilbert L. Laws, December 2, 1889. 
William A. McKeighan, March 4, 1891. 
Third District:— 


Edward K. Valentine, March 4, 1883. 

George W. E. Dorsey, March 4, 1885. 

Omer M. Kern, March 4, 1891. 

The following figures will show the rapidity with which 
the territory and state have grown. At the various 
censuses, the returns have shown the population to be as 
follows: 


1854 . 

. 2,732 

1855. 


1856 . 

.10,716 

1860 . 

. 28,841 

1870. 

.122,993 

1874. 

.230,007 

1875. 

.246,280 


1876 . 257,747 

1877 . 271,561 

1878 . 313,748 

1879 . 386,410 

1880 . 452,542 

1885. 740,645 

1890.1,058,910 






























































































































































































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